Preliminary negotiations have begun between interim WBC junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis for a fight at 154 on February 22 at a Riyadh Season event.
Dan Rafael reports that talks have begun between Boots Ennis promoted by Eddie Hearn (32-0, 29 KOs) and Vergil Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs).
Vergil is one of the best at 154, and this is the proving ground for Boots to prove he belongs in the elite. If he loses, he will go back to 147 and continue to fight the same anonymous opposition he has fought his entire eight-year career.
Negotiations begin
Nobody gives Ennis any chance to beat Vergil Jr, who is a massive puncher with technical skills and the ability to adapt when things don’t go well. We saw that in Vergil’s win over Serhii Bohachuk on August 10th.
Some find this surprising because Golden Boy manager Oscar De La Hoya had asked if Hearn would go through with the fight after Ennis’ performance in his rematch against Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9 in Philadelphia.
“For Golden Boy (president Eric Gomez), preliminary discussions have begun with Matchroom Boxing for Vergil Ortiz – Jaron Ennis at 154 on February 22 card of the Riyadh season,” said Dan Rafael on X.
Allow Boots to fight Ortiz Jr. it showed a lot of courage on Hearn’s part because this could end badly for him. However, if Ennis can’t beat Vergil Ortiz, he doesn’t have much of a future with Matchroom because staying at 147 is a dead end. Hearn can’t continue the Ennis kid’s career if he can’t swim with the sharks.
Great test for Ennis
That’s why it’s an excellent idea for Hearn to make the fight between Ennis and Vergil now. If Ennis loses, it’s a loss for Hearn to keep him aboard the Matchroom ship.
Hearn needs to focus only on ultra-talented fighters for his stable and only make exceptions for short-term contracts involving fighters with charisma, but not great talent, such as Shakur Stevenson and George Kambosos Jr types are good for short-term contracts. A guy like Ennis, who has no charisma and can’t hang with the top guys at 154, it’s a waste for Hearn to keep him if he loses to Vergil Jr.
Top 154-pounders
Bakhram Murtazaliev
Sebastian Fundora
Serhii Bohachuk
Israel Madrimov
Erickson Lubin
Charles Conwell
Tim Tszyu
Forget Terence Crawford. He’s on another level from Boots, and it’s pointless to even consider a fight between the two after Chukhadzhian exposed Ennis again.
Going into the rematch, Ennis bragged about how he was “having fun” and dominated Chukhadzhian by being relaxed, something he hadn’t done in their first fight last year on January 7, 2023.
This time, Ennis did even worse. Chukhadzhian had improved and fought like a more powerful version of Floyd Mayweather Jr, landing punches at will and dominating Boots on the inside as well.
It was a disaster for Boots, and the only positive thing that could come out of the fight was that the judges gave him a 12-round unanimous decision. Ennis won by scores of 119-107, 117-109 and 116-110. Boots takes Karen down in the fifth. I had Ennis winning 7-5.
Boots Ennis vs Chukhadzhian Punch Stats
– Ennis: 224 of 730 punches for 30.7%
– Chukhadzhian: 173 of 522 for 33.1
