Ortiz Vs. Ennis Remains In The Balance

A fight between Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Jaron Ennis may not happen, with promoter Eddie Hearn now giving the fight only a “better than 50-50” chance of taking place.

Despite a heated in-ring face-off after Ortiz’s knockout of Erickson Lubin in November, Matchroom Boxing and Golden Boy Promotions have stalled the deal as 2025 comes to a close. The problems seem centred around who is the A-side. After Ortiz’s second-round stoppage of Lubin, Oscar De La Hoya insisted that Ortiz is the bigger name. Meanwhile, Hearn talked up Ennis’ former role as the unified welterweight champion.

“This can be a great negotiation. When I say it has to be favourable to Vergil, that’s the obvious case. Look at what he did and look at what he is. Vergil is the man. Having this fight in Las Vegas can be huge, but Ortiz has to be the favourite here when it comes to negotiations. As long as they’re favourable we’ll make the fight happen. He better not. There’s no question that I have the man. There’s no question that Vergil is the man. These negotiations will be negotiations just like any other fight. It will go back and forth but at the end of the day Vergil is the man,” De La Hoya said

Will It Happen?

To make matters more problematic, disagreements between Ortiz’s manager, Rick Mirigian, and Golden Boy have led to what insiders call a “scorched-earth” approach to negotiations. That means the two fights could move on. Ortiz has spoken about facing Errol Spence Jr. at the AT&T Stadium in Texas. He is also a mandatory challenger for WBC Junior Middleweight Champion Sebastian Fundora.

As for Boots, he could move up to 160 or target a title fight at 154. While Hearn remains hopeful, he warned that the next few weeks are critical. If a deal isn’t reached by early January, one of the most anticipated matchups in American boxing may fall through.

“Over the last week, we’ve had multiple conversations with Golden Boy. Yet Vergil tweets, ‘I don’t know anything about it.’ It doesn’t make sense. I believe Oscar and those guys want to make the best fights, like we do. We’re talking, but we need some progression, and we need to lock in this date. [It is] better than 50–50,” Hearn said