Oscar De La Hoya revealed on social media that Eddie Hearn has changed his mind about matching his fighter, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, against Vergil Ortiz Jr. next in the 5 v 5 card.
Oscar wants Hearn to keep his way and go through with the fight against the unbeaten WBC interim junior middleweight champion Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs).
If Hearn did that, the chances are high that Ennis would lose and possibly lose badly because he’s not skilled enough on defense to defeat a fighter that hits as hard as Vergil Jr. Ennis had enough trouble beating Roman Villa and Karen Chukhadzhian.
De La Hoya says the Matchroom promoter Hearn changed his mind after IBF welterweight champion Boots Ennis’ rematch against Karen Chukhadzhian last week on November 9th, which turned out to be one of the toughest fights of his career.
De La Hoya says the unbeaten Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) looked like an “amateur,” which is true. He did not perform well against Chukhadzhian (24-3, 13 KOs), who was hitting him with potshots the entire night, and fought like he was the world champion and Ennis the challenger.
“After agreeing to the 5 vs 5 last week, Eddie Hearn said he doesn’t want to fight Jaron Ennis with Vergil Ortiz,” said Oscar De La Hoya during his Clap Back Thursdays this week. “You’re right, Eddie. Boots looked like an amateur last week, but a deal is a deal. Don’t be a p***y now, Eddie.
This was a predictable move on Hearn’s part not to allow Ennis to fight Vergil Ortiz Jr. after his lackluster performance against Chukhadzhian in the headliner at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. After that effort, it would be negligent on Hearn’s part to allow Boots to fight Vergil Jr. because he’s not built enough and doesn’t possess the defeat to win that kind of a match.
Hearn will likely choose to keep Ennis fighting at 147 for as long as possible because, in that weight class, he’s a big fish in a small pond and can dominate the smaller, weaker, limited opposition. If Boots Ennis moves up to 154, his career could quickly be cut shot with him losing to these fighters:
– Vergil Ortiz Jr.
– Bakhram Murtazaliev
– Terence Crawford
– Sebastian Fundora
– Serhii Bohachuk
– Charles Conwell
– Erickson Lubin
