Jamaine Ortiz ventured away from his home region for the first time in his career, picking up his biggest win to date as a result.
The unbeaten New England-based lightweight prospect outlasted Sulaiman Segawa before breaking him down inside of seven rounds. Ortiz floored Segawa late in round seven, with an ensuing volley forcing referee Ray Corona to stop the contest at 2:50 of that round.
Ortiz eventually found a way to outwork the determined Segawa, although it took a couple of rounds to take control of the fight. Segawa—a 29-year old southpaw from Kampala, Uganda now based out of Silver Springs, Maryland—was aggressive from the start, sliding forward and catching Ortiz with left hands. Ortiz adapted early, switching back and forth between conventional and southpaw stance in his best effort to disrupt Segawa’s rhythm.
Action remained steady throughout the bout, with Ortiz gaining control in round three. Segawa made things as difficult as possible for the undefeated prospect from Worcester, Massachusetts, taking the lead and shooting a sharp right jab. Ortiz was the more accurate of the two boxers, though at his most vulnerable on the several occasions when he chose to showboat. Segawa made him pay in round five, catching Ortiz with a right hook, straight left, right hook combination.
Ortiz found greater success once switching back to this natural right-handed stance in round seven. Segawa was urged by his corner to continue to press the action, although it proved to be his downfall.
Round seven saw Ortiz work the body, with a left hook downstairs causing Segawa to fall to the canvas in a delayed reaction. Segawa beat the count, but was left defenseless as Ortiz went on the attack immediately thereafter. The sequence was enough to convince the referee to intervene.
Ortiz improves to 14-0 (8KOs) with the win, his second of 2020 and first since the pandemic. Segawa falls to 13-3-1 with the loss.
The bout served as the televised opener of a four-fight Triller Pay-Per-View, headlined by an eight-round exhibition between long-retired ring legends Mike Tyson (50-6, 44KOs) and Roy Jones (66-9, 47KOs).
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox