Eddie Hearn is ready to consider alternative opponents for Jaron “Boots” Ennis if the sought-after contest with Vergil Ortiz Jnr proves too problematic to make.
Ennis and his promoter were present at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas to watch Ortiz Jnr impressively record his finest victory by stopping Erickson Lubin in two rounds – and post-fight both Ennis and Ortiz Jnr spoke of their desire to be matched.
If it was tempting to conclude that the 30-year-old Lubin represented the ideal preparation for a future fight with Ennis, despite the reality that both Hearn’s Matchroom and Golden Boy Promotions – the promoters of Ortiz Jnr – have broadcast agreements with DAZN, it was also tempting to listen to Golden Boy’s Oscar De La Hoya and question how likely one of the most appealing fights of all is to be made.
De La Hoya and his colleague Eric Gomez spoke like they believe that they are the ones in the position of power, and Ortiz Jnr’s trainer Robert Garcia spoke of “options” like Jermell Charlo, the WBO junior-middleweight champion Xander Zayas, the WBC champion Sebastian Fundora, and Errol Spence.
Hearn, who is on course to oversee the IBF title fight between Bakhram Murtazaliev and Josh Kelly on January 31, similarly considers Zayas, Fundora, and Charlo as potential opponents for the 28-year-old Ennis.
He also described a fight in March or April as “realistic” for the 36th of Ennis’ career, and revealed that he would consider Ennis’ fellow Philadelphian Danny Garcia another appealing opponent should Garcia choose to fight again.
“The main thing is we want to fight Vergil Ortiz,” Hearn told BoxingScene. “We’ve agreed to that fight in principle – we all sat in a room; yada yada; Jaron signed for that fight – but he also wants to win those championship belts, which Vergil doesn’t have.
“Whether that’s Murtazaliev; whether that’s [the WBA champion Abass] Baraou; whether that’s Xander Zayas; whether that’s Fundora, we don’t care. The other name that I am interested in, because I think commercially it’s a big fight, is Charlo. But a lot of these guys – sometimes they just price themselves out of the fight. [Keith] Thurman’s another example.
“They all talk a great game – Charlo included – but then you go, ‘Yeah, Charlo – we’re up for that’. ‘I want $5m.’ ‘Fuck off, mate.’
“If you really want to fight, we can get these fights made. If you don’t, and you just pluck a number from thin air, don’t worry about it – we got other options. But we’re really happy with where ‘Boots’ is, and the next fight with him will be key.”
Asked about Garcia – at 37 a decade older than Ortiz Jnr – who stopped Daniel Gonzalez in October in a fight promoted as the last of his career, Hearn responded: “Those guys are not friends, but they’re both from Philly – it’s a big fight.
“As I understand it it was Danny Garcia’s last fight, but he looked pretty good – he’s got a great left hook, hasn’t he? It would be a massive fight for Philly.”
