Ortiz wants the big boys in welterweight division; challenges Terence Crawford

Ortiz threw a punch of great authority Saturday night in Dallas, harder than the one that sent Maurice Hooker to the canvas in his technical knockout victory.

Ortiz proved that he has boxing, punching, quickness and is ready to start making the big leagues of boxing, even if he still has to go through a trance to get a chance to step into the ring with the most respected champions in his division.

Ortiz, 22, defeated Hooker in the seventh round, whom he had dominated from start to finish and knocked down earlier in the fifth round.

“To be honest, I don’t think the fight was close,” Ortiz said. “I connected the more accurate punches. I was the one who put his head on his back. He just connected some clean punches.”

In his first chance to speak after the victory, Ortiz (17-0, 17 KO) challenged (WBO) welterweight champion Crawford, who is considered one of the greatest pound-for-pound boxers of the era, and who was in the front row watching the fight.

Crawford (37-0, 20 KO’s) acknowledged to the Dallas press that Ortiz had put on a good display, that he was a boxer, but that he lacked trying to intimidate him as a possible opponent in a world title fight.

“He really doesn’t want to face me,” Crawford declared. “That’s what you do, consult the fighters who are at the top right now. I did that back in the day. He’s doing his thing and what he’s expected to do. And I wish him nothing but the best…..”

Hooker, a former World Boxing Organization super lightweight champion, acknowledged Ortiz’s high quality.

“I struggled in the early rounds with the barrage of punches he threw at me,” Hooker expressed in reference to Ortiz. “The ideas didn’t go the way I wanted them to. He landed a good punch to the body, hurt me in one hand and that’s as far as I got: ….. That’s the end of the fight.”

Ortiz recognizes that for his growth and to challenge for a respected world title he will have to face fighters with impressive resumes in the short to medium term, beyond thinking about Crawford.

“I’m ready for some of those fights,” Ortiz assured. “I want to be the biggest. I want the unification of belts in the welterweight division and I don’t care who I have to go over.”

He’ll have to win a world title first, after the WBO intercontinental welterweight he won on Saturday and then figure his path will have to cross perhaps with Crawford, Errol Spence Jr, who is also a Dallas native and was in the ring, or Mike Garcia, Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia or someone else in a tightly contested 147-pound division.

“This win gives me more confidence,” Ortiz noted. “I believe in myself now more than ever that I’m ready for a world championship.”