The outline to resurrect a glamour junior middleweight unified title bout between new champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis and unbeaten WBC interim titlist Vergil Ortiz Jnr has been sculpted.
Now, according to Ortiz’s manager, it’s up to Ennis, his promoter Eddie Hearn and mutual streaming partner DAZN to move swiftly to bring the anticipated showdown to reality as soon as late October.
“We have a pathway and foundational structure now if ‘Boots’ wants to go first,” Ortiz manager Rick Mirigian told BoxingScene Monday.
Following a destructive second-round TKO victory by Texas’ Ortiz, 24-0 (22 KOs), in November, Philadelphia’s now unified 154lbs champion Ennis, 36-0 (32 KOs), was there ringside to call out Ortiz, and the bout was on its way to reality before Ortiz and promoter Oscar De La Hoya engaged in a legal squabble with opposing lawsuits to spoil the talks.
Ennis proceeded to capture the WBO and WBA belts by stopping champion Xander Zayas in the sixth round June 27 at New York’s Barclays Center.
On Monday’s Ariel Helwani Show, Ennis cast doubt on the idea Ortiz truly wants to fight him.
“Is this the same guy that’s been on the floor multiple times?” Ennis asked. “He gets hurt… What’s gonna happen when I touch him? Make that make sense.”
But as a summer arbitration date still hovers in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas to determine the Ortiz-Golden Boy union, those sides have met to hammer out their disagreements and position for a successful, rapid negotiation with Ennis and DAZN, Mirigian claims.
“We have a fair deal now laid out. Both sides made some concessions and talked through issues and [the] interpretation of things, and took care of things that were not there prior,” Mirigian said of Ortiz’s position with Golden Boy.
“Pending [DAZN] making some decisions, this could be done in 48 to 72 hours.”
Getting the deal done for an Ennis fight would keep Ortiz bound to Golden Boy for Ennis and two more fights.
Yet, the options for allowing the fight to slip away are perilous and uncertain, Mirigian admitted.
“We have our arbitration date… and that’s not moving,” he said. “I’m hopeful the principal people involved don’t take much more time and [then] things fall apart.
“It is boxing… and nothing is ever done ‘till it’s done.”
Mirigian said finding a path forward with Golden Boy would also allow the promoter to strike a deal with WBC champion Sebastian Fundora and his promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz and Premier Boxing Champions. Yet, Lewkowicz repeated to BoxingScene earlier Monday he plans to pursue a bout for Fundora versus mandatory challenger Ermal Hadribeaj.
Upon defeating Zayas, 28-year-old Ennis originally expressed interest in seeking a unification against Fundora or England’s IBF champion Josh Kelly, who’s also promoted by Hearn.
But just as Hearn said previously that a match versus Ortiz, 27, is the best fight boxing can make, Mirigian said it’s appropriate.
“I’ll be the first to say ‘Boots’ is really good. The sport needs him, and [he] seems like a decent person in an ocean of bad ones. But after 36 fights, he has never tested if he is good or great with [a] single opponent of Ortiz’s proven caliber,” Mirigian said.
“The world saw round three against Xander,” he said of the moments when Ennis was rocked by power punches. “We all know why the energy to fight Ortiz changed. I would bet the farm on Ortiz in eight.”
Mirigian said few can remember who Ennis or Zayas defeated to capture their prior belts “so I don’t want to hear the belt talk.
“We all know what the best 154lbs fight to make is. Anything else is ducking and excuses.”
