Robert Duran Jr Steps In Against Victor Ortiz at BKB 62
Robert Duran Jr replaces Paulie Malignaggi in the BKB 62 main event against former WBC champion Victor Ortiz on December 5.
The Duran name is back under the bright lights. Robert Duran Jr, son of four-division boxing world champion Roberto "Hands of Stone" Duran, will replace Paulie Malignaggi in the main event of BKB 62 against former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz on December 5 at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.
BKB announced the change on Thursday after Malignaggi withdrew for personal reasons, per Sherdog. The promotion had originally announced the Ortiz versus Malignaggi bout in October, setting up a meeting between two former boxing world champions. No further explanation was given for the withdrawal.
Duran Jr carries a 13-4 professional boxing record with 10 knockouts and a 4-2 mark in bare-knuckle competition. The Miami fighter made his BKB debut in 2024 with a third-round TKO of then-welterweight champion Javon Wright. All four of his BKB victories have come by stoppage. He most recently stopped Ryan Spivey in the first round at BKB 58 in Miami on August 29.
Ortiz made his BKB debut at BKB 56 in July with a unanimous decision victory over Dominic Salcido in Los Angeles. The former WBC welterweight champion holds a 33-7-3 record with 25 knockouts in professional boxing, having shared the ring with Floyd Mayweather Jr, Marcos Maidana and Robert Guerrero during his career. He won his WBC title by defeating Andre Berto in April 2011.
Duran Jr said when an opportunity like this comes along, you have to take it. He called Ortiz a legend and a former world champion who has shared the ring with some of the best in the sport, adding that once the bell rings, it is all business.
Look, bare-knuckle boxing is its own world, and BKB losing Paulie Malignaggi from a main event is not great news for a card that needed star power. But swapping in a Duran? The name still carries weight, even if Junior is more of a gatekeeper than a generational talent.
Duran Jr has real pop in his hands. Four BKB wins, all by stoppage. He's not here to decision you. Ortiz at this stage of his career is more name than threat, but he's still Victor Ortiz, and this is still a main event in Los Angeles with a famous last name on the marquee.
I would have preferred to see Malignaggi versus Ortiz. Two former world champions talking trash and throwing bare-knuckle bombs is exactly what sells BKB cards. But Duran Jr versus Ortiz still works. December 5 just got a little less personal but no less violent.
