Vergil Ortiz Jr. is back but we didn’t get to see much of him during his first bout in 16 months.

The former welterweight contender halted Fredrick Lawson near the end of the opening round of their middleweight main event at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas in Las Vegas on Saturday. It was Ortiz’s first bout since August 2022. The undefeated power puncher was sidelined by health issues for much of 2022 and throughout 2023.

Ortiz (20-0, 20 KOs) took time off to heal before making the decision to return to trainer Robert Garcia and campaign in a heavier weight class in late 2023 with much anticipation from the boxing world, which focused on his January 6 return. Lawson (30-4, 22 KOs), a 34-year-old journeyman from Ghana, was brought in to give Ortiz some professional resistance for a few rounds to help the 25-year-old Texan knock off ring rust and acclimate to the heavier weight.

Unfortunately, referee Tony Weeks did not allow the fight to last long enough for Ortiz to show the world how he operates a couple pounds over the junior middleweight limit. However, Ortiz looked confident and technically sharp for the 2 minutes and 30 seconds that he shared the ring with Lawson, who was stunned by a power jab and backed to the ropes near a corner with about 40 seconds left in the round. Ortiz wasted no time letting his right hands go, forcing Lawson to cover up, before opening up with body-head combinations.

Weeks quickly stepped between the fighters, figuring that Lawson was already overwhelmed by Ortiz’s superior power and punch output. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t. We’ll never know.

It didn’t take @VergilOrtiz long to secure another stoppage 💥#OrtizLawson pic.twitter.com/7Kt6PmnJNi

— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) January 7, 2024

It’s onto the next fight for Ortiz, who weighed in at 156, but is aiming for the 154-pound division, which is home to several tough customers, one of whom Ortiz mentioned during his post-fight interview.

“You guys know what I’m about,” Ortiz said. “I love to fight. I wanted to go rounds. I’m ready for anyone out there.

“There’s a lot of (junior middleweight) fighters I want to fight; Tim Tszyu, with all respect, I’d love to fight you. Let’s make it happen.”

Ortiz’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, said the company is willing to travel to Tszyu’s Australia for that one.

Tszyu is The Ring’s No. 1-rated junior middleweight.

In the co-featured bout of the Golden Boy Promotions/DAZN presentation, Ismael Barroso dropped odds favorite Ohara Davies twice en route to an opening-round stoppage. The 40-year-old Venezuelan veteran clipped Davis with a counter hook during an exchange half a minute into the interim WBA title bout. The power punch instantly stunned the 31-year-old Londoner into the ropes where Barroso (25-4-2, 22 KOs) attacked with winging hooks and crosses, most of which landed with violent authority as Davies bounced off the ropes and staggered to the canvas.

Davies (25-3, 18 KOs), who had won his previous seven bouts, was visibly shell shocked as he struggled to his feet. He continued on instinct but couldn’t mount a counterattack or even basic survival tactics and was soon dropped again by a series of lefts. Although Davies made it to his feet once again, his blank expression convinced referee Celestino Ruiz to wave the bout off at 1:53 of Round 1.

Ismael Barroso bulldozes Ohara Davies 😲@VergilOrtiz returns to the ring NEXT on https://t.co/FoiaUucafv 🥊#OrtizLawson pic.twitter.com/hy97Fn6dQF

— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) January 7, 2024

“When I first started boxing, they told me I could punch, I have that power,” said Barroso, who was coming off a controversial stoppage loss to Rolando Romero in a WBA title bout last May.

“After the first punch (that hurt him) I knew that I had him.

“The people have been asking for Rolly vs. Barroso, Rolly I am here!”

Romero, who was ringside, climbed onto the ring apron to hug and congratulated Barroso.

On the undercard, Arnold Barbosa Jr. knocked off 11 months of ring rust by dominating Xolisani Ndongeni to a corner stoppage at the end of Round 8. Barbosa (29-0, 11 KOs), The Ring’s No. 8-rated junior welterweight, took his time in walking down and overpowering the South African fringe contender, backing Ndongeni (31-4, 18 KOs) up — and often to the ropes — with a stiff jab, accurate right hands and uppercuts, and punishing lefts to the body.

Barbosa, who made his Golden Boy Promotions debut, landed 48% of his total punches, according to CompuBox stats, outlanding Ndongeni 210 to 80. The 32-year-old southern Californian landed 58% of his power punches, including 50 body shots. He sounded eager to impose his offense on the bigger names of the 140-pound division during his post-fight interview with Beto Duran, referring to Ryan Garcia as “Queen Ryan” and Ring/WBO champion Teofimo Lopez as “Bitch Ass.”

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