Trainer Robert Garcia believes Jaron “Boots” Ennis’ team felt it was too dangerous to move up straight into a fight with Vergil Ortiz Jnr, leading to the breakdown of their much-anticipated bout.
Ennis and Ortiz were reportedly negotiating a clash at 154lbs on the undercard of the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitrii Bivol in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 22, but the fight fell through.
Philadelphia’s Ennis, who holds the IBF 147-pound title, was expected to move up to challenge WBC interim 154lbs champion Ortiz of Dallas, Texas. Garcia, however, refused to blame the weight difference between the fighters as the main reason for the failure of the bout to happen, indicating that Ennis is big, strong and talented enough to cope against Ortiz.
“We were ready to fight. Vergil is a fighter. He doesn’t say no to any fight,” Garcia told BoxingScene. “So, when we were told that he was going to fight Boots, we were happy. We were excited about that fight. We were ready for that fight, but in the end, it wasn’t Vergil. It was Boots’ team, Matchroom, whoever that pulled out. So, it wasn’t us.
“I really don’t know what happened. I don’t know why he decided not to fight because in his last fight, he said he was moving up in weight, and we were ready for him, but it looked like he decided not to.”
Ortiz, 22-0 (21 KOs), instead opted to face former WBA 154-pound titlist Israil Madrimov – who lost his belt to Terence Crawford last August – on the February 22 card in Riyadh.
Ennis is instead headed for a unification fight on April 12 with WBA welterweight champion Eimantas Stanionis – who coincidentally was scheduled to fight Ortiz in 2023 before the fight was cancelled multiple times.
As part of preparations for the Madrimov fight, Garcia said he led Ortiz to a training camp in London.
Garcia said he anticipates a very technical fight between Ortiz and Madrimov.
“Both fighters are going to put up a great fight. Madrimov is a great fighter. He had a great fight against Crawford, a very close fight, so we can’t look past Madrimov. We’ve got to focus on Madrimov right now, and after the fight, if everything goes well, then we’ll think of future fights.”
Garcia said the 154-pound division was blessed with a lot of great fighters that can offer Ortiz the kind of competition he needs. Garcia said Ortiz was willing to face any of the current titlists at 154 – Sebastian Fundora, Crawford, and Bakhram Murtazaliev – or former undisputed champion Jermell Charlo.
“There’re a lot of options. There’re a lot of big fights out there. Personally, these are all big fights for Vergil, so I would love to have those fights.”
Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at [email protected].
Read the full article here
