Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Vergil Ortiz (23-0, 21 KOs) remained unbeaten with a unanimous decision (117-111, 115-113, 115-113) in a back-and-forth battle with former world champion Israil Madrimov (10-2-1, 7 KOs) of Khiva, Uzbekistan, for the interim WBC super welterweight title.

The win puts Ortiz in line for a crack at the full WBC world champion Sebastian Fundora.

Early on, Madrimov was able to frustrate Ortiz by sticking and moving, not allowing any time for his opponent to answer. Towards the middle of the fight, Ortiz was able to settle in and force Madrimov into his style with powerful body punches.

The remainder of the contest saw the combatants going nose-to-nose with power shots as if they were duking it out in a phone booth. Ortiz outlanded Madrimov 166-127, but the majority of the rounds saw both fighters separated by no more than 4 punches.

Reflecting on the biggest win of his career, Ortiz noted, “This was expected. I knew I was the better fighter, all respect to Madrimov. We knew what kind of fight this was going to be, he’s a tough opponent and was there to prove himself after a loss against one of the best in the world. We just wanted to show that we’re the best at 154 pounds, and we say yes to everybody.”

Ortiz is now hoping to get a world title shot at 154-pounds.

"Anyone with a belt. We're chasing greatness. We want to face the best fighters. If someone is willing to give me a chance to fight for the belt - let's go for it. Crawford has the WBA, I don't know if he's going to be defending it anymore. I was kind of hoping that he would have vacated it and then this could have been for the WBA. It kind of just feels like it anyways [that a title was at stake]. Madrimov just had the WBA in the last fight, so I just beat a world champion" Ortiz told The Ring.