NEWARK, N.J. — Boxing has a long memory when it comes to a fighter’s flaws, but it can also be remarkably quick to forgive. Joshafat Ortiz is counting on one big night changing everything.
Ortiz will face William Foster III in a 10-round junior lightweight bout this Friday at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The fight will be part of a ProBox TV broadcast and, with a regional WBA belt at stake, offers an opportunity to right a few wrongs in Ortiz’s up-and-down career. When the bout was presented to him, the 30-year-old Ortiz says he jumped at the chance.
“I just really don't believe he could beat me. I really honestly don't see nothing,” said Ortiz, 13-2 (6 KOs), of Foster, 19-3 (11 KOs). “That's a great win for me. I just felt like everything looks good for me.”
Ortiz, a native of Puerto Rico who was raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, knows he’s at a crossroads in his career. He fought just once in 2025, losing a shutout decision to unbeaten prospect Justin Viloria on a card in Las Vegas that preceded the Terence Crawford-Canelo Alvarez super-fight two days later. In that fight, Ortiz was on his bicycle throughout, trying to box and counterpunch against his much-larger opponent, but the size advantage was too significant to overcome.
Ortiz said that he had been trying to get down to 126lbs to compete, but took the fight with a catchweight at 134lbs. He believes that Foster’s team saw that performance and got the wrong impression of what he’s about.
“I think a lot of people go off my last performance and think that I like to move a lot, and I like to use the ring. But no, I like to fight. I think it's good if he wants to box, I can box. If he wants to fight, I can fight,” said Ortiz.
Though Ortiz’s boxing dreams had taken shape in the suburbs near Philadelphia, they had begun in his native Puerto Rico. Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Ortiz left as a toddler, spending brief stints in Milwaukee and Los Angeles before settling in Reading around age four. He began training at age seven, picking up the sport while on a vacation in Puerto Rico.
“My whole family in PR, everybody over there boxes,” Ortiz explained. Instead of looking for a beach to lounge on, Ortiz was sweating away in the gym. “Just seeing everybody over there and how much they liked it, how much they supported it, it just made me want that same attention, the same love.”
Ortiz had about 50 amateur fights, competing in several national tournaments while testing himself against the best the city of Philadelphia had to offer. He turned pro in 2017 and remained unbeaten through his first 11 fights before losing a split decision to the 5-1 Carlos Rosario in 2023. He won two more before the Viloria loss.
Promoter Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna of Rising Star Promotions says he had been in the gym with Ortiz several times in the lead-up to this fight and has been impressed with how hard he has worked to get in shape for this bout. He says that, while Foster has the higher profile, having beaten undefeated boxers Edwin De Los Santos, Donald Smith and Sulaiman Segawa, while appearing numerous times on ProBox, he feels that Ortiz has the style to beat him.
“I definitely give Jo a great chance of winning. I don’t think much of William Foster, I think he’s pretty boring,” said LaManna.
“I think Jo is a level above Foster actually. While he hasn’t had the big fights yet, Jo is a talented, hard-working fighter who’s really locked in. I don’t think he’ll let the moment get to him and a star will be born and more opportunities will come for Jo.”
Foster, 32, of New Haven, Connecticut is coming off a loss himself, having dropped a split decision to Tajikistan's Muhammad Yaqubov.
Ortiz understands what this fight means to him. The regional belt at stake will likely confer with it a world ranking with that sanctioning body, putting him in position for bigger fights. It would also be a big step towards being able to create financial security for himself, his son and his girlfriend. While it wouldn’t be the kind of win that movies are made of, it would open new doors for Ortiz.
“I don't really think there's a ‘why,’ there's more of like an ‘I know.’ I know that I'm supposed to be doing this. I just know that after this win I'm back on track,” said Ortiz.
“I don't really look at [the losses] as setbacks; it just gives me some extra motivation. I know why I started doing this. At the end of the day, I'm gonna keep going.”
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
