Rising star Vergil Ortiz Jr. will be ready to box welterweight champ Terence Crawford within a year, says Bernard Hopkins

• Vergil Ortiz Jr. will be ready for a world title shot against Terence Crawford within a year.
• That's according to Golden Boy Promotions partner Bernard Hopkins, who oversees his career.
• Ortiz Jr. fights Maurice Hooker in the main event of a DAZN show Saturday.

Rising star Vergil Ortiz Jr. will be ready to face three-weight boxing champion Terence Crawford within a year, according to Golden Boy Promotions partner Bernard Hopkins.

Ortiz Jr. returns to the ring Saturday for a welterweight match against Maurice Hooker at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, in an event broadcast on DAZN.

It is a step-up in class for Ortiz Jr., who possesses a 100% knockout record having finished every one of his 16 opponents to date.

The bout also has the vacant WBO international welterweight title on the line, and though it is a lightly-regarded belt, the winner will be in a strong position to challenge the outright WBO champion - Crawford, a Top Rank athlete.

Insider asked Hopkins on a recent Zoom call whether Golden Boy would, in the next 12 to 24 months, push Ortiz Jr. into a high-stakes, all-American fight against Crawford, who Insider regards as one of the best boxers on the planet.

"Yes, and I actually say within a year or a year and a half," Hopkins said.

"Vergil is moving fast, but he's moving fast with a learning pace behind him, and he's fighting guys who are credible."

Hopkins said that there are opponents on Ortiz Jr.'s record who he would always have beaten, but said this is common in boxing, was common in his day as a Hall-of-Famer from the 90s and 00s, and that it is all a building process.

"Vergil Ortiz Jr. is on the verge of getting out of the grade school, way out of kindergarten, now he's getting to another level of talent, mentality, and politics. All these things, he'll get used to very, very fast."

Ortiz Jr. is getting better on a fight-by-fight basis, Hopkins says

Ortiz Jr. is one of many rising youngsters in a wildly-promising Golden Boy stable. He sits alongside the likes the Gen-Z superstar Ryan Garcia, the super flyweight champion Joshua Franco, and blue-chip prospect Bektemir Melikuziev.

In Ortiz Jr., Golden Boy hopes to develop another pound-for-pound caliber fighter, and Hopkins marveled at the 22-year-old's ability to continually improve.

"What impresses me about Vergil Ortiz Jr. is his poise, and also he seems to be ahead of his time. What I mean is his intelligence, patience, and what I do see in every fight is him getting better and better and better.

"People may hear that a lot when it comes to people knocking on the door of greatness, but I see it in Ortiz Jr. more than any other fighter in the last eight or nine years.

"I've seen fast, steady growth, and a complete person who is taking his time and needs to be guided the right way so he won't get in a fight where he don't win," said Hopkins.

He went on to emphasize that one of the key things Golden Boy wants to do with Ortiz Jr. is to match him against fighters outside his comfort zone.

"We don't have control of that [the results], but we do have control over who we match our guys with. Vergil Ortiz Jr., I feel, and I Bernard Hopkins am speaking as a former fighter, you just don't have to do that with him.

"You don't have to cherry-pick his opponents with Vergil Ortiz Jr., which I've seen over and over in boxing, and you cannot put him in this realm.

"I'm telling you, when he fights Maurice Hooker, you'll see a different Vergil Ortiz Jr. than you see in his last fight."

Hopkins said it is easy to get carried away with Ortiz Jr.'s undeniabe knockout power, but said one must also look at the fundamentals Ortiz Jr.'s coach Robert Garcia has been developing away from how hard he hits.

"I look at everything, not just the knockout," Hopkins said. "I'd be a fool if I just look at the knockout, right? Knockouts are great. Going the distance is great, too.

"But there are signs you need to work on when you win, just as when you lose."

By trying to improve even when you're winning, Hopkins said, that's when you can reach to "another level."

"This always takes you to another level when you're always competing against yourself. Not toward the establishment, or the next fighter in your weight class, but being honest with yourself even if you score a first-round knockout which seems unbelievable to find something wrong when you have won that way.

"What could you have done better in those minutes? Being around his team, his coaches, I know he's not satisfied, and he wants the same spotlight that the other fighters are getting at the top level.

"He wants that light, and to get that light he always has to be better than his last fight. I think that's where he's at, and where he talks, and nobody will leave disappointed with what they're going to see March 20 against Hooker."

Ortiz Jr. is desperate to go from hunter to hunted

Neither Golden Boy, Hopkins, or Ortiz Jr. are looking past Hooker, but the team is eager for him to go from the hunter to the hunted. Target a world title, win a world title, then become the target for others wanting to win that title.

Key to Ortiz Jr. beating Hooker, Hopkins said, is minimizing the Texan's use of his hook.

"Let me tell you, when he takes the hook away from the Hooker, we're going to see what Ortiz Jr. has and what Maurice has," Hopkins said, assessing the strategic battle he expects to unfold this weekend.

"Let's not count out what Vergil has to face in the Hooker. He must take that hook away. Vergil has to take that away and see if he has anything else in mind - I'm pretty sure he does.

"But I think once that's been exposed, one way or another, now we're going to see the talents of both fighters.

"This is not a walkover match," said Hopkins, noting that Hooker - like Ortiz Jr. - hails from Dallas, so will have just as much, if not more, support.

"He [Hooker] is in his hometown. He's comfortable, probably going to have fans just as much as Vergil. This is not an advantage.

"These things are important for young fighters, as is moving up the ladder to become the target.

"Right now, they're the hunters. And when they get to the level where they become the hunted, you'll see the greatness."

Ortiz Jr. and Hooker headline Saturday's Golden Boy-promoted event on DAZN, topping a show that also features a WBA women's minimumweight championship between Anabel Ortiz and Seneisa Estrada.