Vergil Ortiz Jr’s manager Rick Mirigian has thrown cold water on reports targeting a fight against Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis for February 22nd in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mirigian says he wants to Errol Spence o Keith Thurman for Vergil Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) for Cowboys Stadium in Texas. However, it does not rule out a fight between Vergil Jr. and Boots or Terence Crawford if “someone can afford” that fight.
Spence and Thurman are both considered washed-up fighters at this point. Thurman hasn’t fought in nearly three years, and would be a bad choice for Vergil Jr. to defend his interim WBC 154 lb. belt.
Ennis is not an option for Vergil Jr
Fans should have known better than to believe that Ortiz Jr. would risk his career to fight Jaron Ennis and probably lose to him. That would be a huge step up in class for Vergil, who seemed to be still sore from the number system in his last fight at 154.
Saria S. Excellency Turki Alalshikh. It is not known whether he wanted to finance a fight between interim WBC junior middleweight champion Ortiz and Boots or Crawford. There is no chance that Crawford would agree to fight Vergil Jr. because it’s not known to casual boxing fans, and it doesn’t bring in many PPV buys. Only hardcore boxing fans know who Vergil Jr. is, and many of them see him as flawed, especially after his last fight.
It’s pretty obvious why Mirigian wanted the 35-year-old “One Time” Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) for Vergil Ortiz Jr. That would be a sure win for Vergil, who looked terrible in his last fight against Serhii Bohachuk.
Thurman has only fought once in the last five years, and that was against Mario Barrios. Former welterweight champion Thurman destroyed his career by being inactive after earning good money from his fights against Manny Pacquiao and Danny Garcia.
Given the highly questionable 12-time majority decision Vergil Jr wins Serhii Bohachuk on August 10, it is not the ideal time for Turki to make a fight between him and Ennis or Crawford. If Vergil wants to fight Spence if he is victorious against WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora, that’s one thing.
We are not eying Boots, Ortiz and anyone in the Top 5 is working for a BIG fight and when an offer comes then we go from there. I think Ortiz/Spence at Cowboy Stadium becomes the biggest fight in Texas history, but if someone can afford Ortiz/Boots or Ortiz/Crawford then my…
– Rick Mirigian (@RGMPPROMO) October 25, 2024
We would like that, Vergil has been asking for that fight for years and Thurman wouldn’t do it, but if Thurman wanted that fight, it would happen soon TOMORROW…
– Rick Mirigian (@RGMPPROMO) October 25, 2024
