WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis have a verbal agreement to fight at 154 on the February 22nd Riyadh Season card in Saudi Arabia. Vergil would have to be seen as a solid favorite going in because he’s looked very impressive in his three fights at 154, beating Serhii Bohachuk, Thomas Dulorme, and Fredrick Lawson.
The 154-lb weight for the Vergi Jr. vs. Boots fight is heavier than what Ennis’ promoter Eddie Hearn had spoken about this week. Hearn had mentioned that the weight could be 147, which would have been difficult for Vergil (22-0, 21 KOs) to make. He hasn’t fought at 147 since 2022, and he’d been having problems.
Lance Pugmire broke the news of the verbal agreement for the Ortiz-Ennis fight on February 22nd. It’s a great fight and one of the better ones on the card. The other interesting fights are as follows:
– Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2
– Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker
– Shakur Stevenson vs. Floyd Schofield
– Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz
– Anthony Cacace vs. Eduardo ‘Sugar’ Nunez
The verbal agreement is that Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) will challenge Ortiz for his newly won WBC interim 154-lb title, and it’s possible that he could choose to stay in the division if he’s victorious.
If Ennis loses, he should return to the welterweight division and continue defending his IBF title. There’s nothing for Ennis at 147, but if he can’t hack it at 154, he’d have no choice but to move back down.
There’s a lot to lose for Boots because there’s been so much hype put into his career by people in the last three years, and he’s fought no one to earn the high praise that has been said about him. In Ennis’ last two fights against Karen Chukhadzhian and David Avanesyan. Ennis looked very beatable in both fights.
Even before those two contests, Ennis had shown signs that he wasn’t as good as people thought. He struggled in the first fight against Chukhadzhian last year and looked poor in his clash against Roiman Villa.
That’s four fights where Ennis had not looked great, and if he loses to Vergil Ortiz, the knowledgeable fans who have followed his career won’t be surprised at seeing him get beaten,
