Prospect Watch: Raul Curiel

Undefeated Vergil Ortiz Jr. (19-0, 19 KOs) will return to the ring after a 17-month layoff and make his 154-pound debut against Ghana’s Fredrick Lawson.

The two junior middleweights will headline a Golden Boy card on the DAZN network on January 6 in Las Vegas. 

This will be Ortiz’s first fight since August 2022, as he had to deal with the effects of rhabdomyolysis, a condition that occurs when damaged muscle tissue disrupts normal blood function.

Ortiz, 25, will now look to win his first title at junior middleweight rather than welterweight. After shaking off some ring rust against Lawson (30-3, 22 KOs), he hopes to get in a title eliminator and then take a shot at the world title.

While many people are excited and anxious to see the return of Texas’ Ortiz, a fighter to keep an eye on is Raul Curiel who is fighting out of Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California.

Curiel is on the Ortiz undercard for a 10-rounder against Elias Diaz. 

Curiel, a highly touted Mexican Olympian, turned pro in 2017 and has been perfect in 13 outings so far, with 11 coming by way of stoppage. Curiel can box and has power and has got the team at Golden Boy excited.

In a recent interview, Golden Boy president Eric Gomez was excited to see Curiel back in the ring and is looking forward to an impressive 2024 from the Mexico native.

"Well, you know, Raul is one of our top prospects, Mexican Olympian, we had him on a little bit of a roll late last year, he got injured, he got a cut," said Gomez. "It was a deep cut, seven or eight stitches, so we had to wait for it to heal so he is finally coming back, he is motivated."

Another piece in the Curiel puzzle is the work with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach. Curiel is an offensive-minded fighter showing good work with both hands upstairs and a strong body game, a feature of Mexican fighters. 

Gomez also believes that since Curiel has begun working with the Hall of Fame coach, he will be prepared to make those next steps.

"Ever since he has gotten with Freddie Roach, he has gotten so much better," said Gomez. "He is there, he is knocking on the door to break through for fights against the top of the division. So, after this fight, we are going to really start moving him fast. Start looking to land fights with some of these fighters who are in the top-ten of the rankings."

And speaking from the Wild Card, Roach is excited to see Curiel back in the ring. He’s in shape, and ready to go according to Roach.

“Wrapping up a great camp with Raul”, said Roach. “We will be ready on January 6”.