WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis will not be fighting on the February 22nd card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A deal could not be reached between the two unbeaten fighters.
Was It The Weight?
There’s no word on what caused the deal to fall apart, but some believe it was on Ennis’ side. Dan Rafael reports that the weight Ennis’ side wanted for the fight was 147, which was impossible for Vergil. Fighting the welterweight limit would have given Boots his best chance of winning because Vergil (22-0, 21 LOs) would likely be drained and not at full strength.
Obviously, it does look like Ennis swerved the fight with Vergil Ortiz, but you can’t blame him. It would have been a bad career move for Ennis to move up to 154 and face the killer Vergil in his first fight.
One can understand why Ennis would want an advantage in weight because he’d looked so poor in his rematch against Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9th at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Karen had outboxed Ennis over long stretches in the fight, hitting him cleanly with accurate shots and looking like a young Mayweather.
Ennis’ promoter, Eddie Hearn, said on Thursday that they were interested in unification fights at 147. Moving up to 154 to challenge Vergil for his WBC interim title would mean giving up the IBF welterweight belt. The way Hearn talked, it seemed obvious that Ennis was going to stay at welterweight and look for unification matches against the three champions.
Although Ennis and Vergil Jr had agreed, the deal “cratered,” according to Rafael. Efforts are now being made to get Vergil Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) on February 22nd. Sebastian Fundora won’t be taking the fight. His promoter revealed he has other plans.
“The sides had agreed to the fight, which was supposed to be part of a mega card Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh is putting together for a Riyadh Season event on Feb. 22. The fight cratered on Friday, leaving organizers looking for a new opponent to fight Ortiz, [according to] multiple sources,” said Dan Rafael on his substack site.
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