For a while, it seemed that we fans would be treated to a potential modern-day classic between unbeaten peaking warriors Jaron Ennis and Vergil Ortiz. Fans suggested that the fight to go on the February 22 card in Riyadh would play its part in “the best Saudi card yet.” Indeed, the card was (and still is) shaping up as a great one – with the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol rematch being staged on the card, along with Daniel Dubois-Joseph Parker, Zhilei Zhang-Agit Kabayel, Boots vs. Ortiz, and more.
But things have changed, as fans know. Ennis is now deciding whether or not to move up to fight Ortiz at 154, with him having to vacate his IBF welterweight title if he does make the move. Boots, his promoter Eddie Hearns says, may decide to stay where he is and look to unify the welterweight titles and not go up to 154 immediately. And some people are hurling the ‘ducker’ tag at Ennis. Not fair, says Hearn.
Hearn spoke with IFL TV to explain his perspective on this fight.
“Jaron’s got to make a fast decision on what weight he’s going to fight at and if he’s gonna vacate the [IBF welterweight] belt, and I’m not sure he’s gonna do that,” Hearn said last night UK time. “There was never a last-minute change for it to be at 147. We received an offer, about three days ago, for the fight [to be] at 147. Not from us, not us trying to get the fight at 147. That is how it was written in the offer to us. We took it back to Jaron, obviously that’s fine with us. We went back to them and said, ‘yes, we’ll accept, but are you sure this is at 147?’ They went away, they came back, and they said, ‘no, we’ve spoken to Golden Boy, sorry, it would be at 154, you’ve got to vacate your title.’ This is a big decision, this was about 24 to 48 hours ago. On Thanksgiving, we were asked to make a decision, and his [Boots] answer was, ‘I just don’t know. I’m not ready to make a decision on whether or not I’m going to vacate my belt.’”
So, in a nutshell, according to Hearn, Ennis needs more time to make up his mind. But if Ennis does move up to 154, he will “100 percent fight Vergil Ortiz.” But if not, Boots will endeavor to unify the belts at 147. “It’s up to him,” Hearn said.
So, no, Boots is not “ducking” Ortiz any more than Ortiz is “ducking him.” It’s no easy decision to vacate a world title, especially in haste. Put yourself in Ennis’ place, and what would you do? If Boots did vacate his belt, he would be fighting Ortiz for no belts. And we all know this fight is seen as a 50-50 affair. Boxing is a business and a sport, and this here seems to be a great example of that.
Look for Boots to stay put and try to unify the belts, if the other welterweight champions will agree to fight him. As for Ortiz, who knows who he will fight next now?
