Erickson Lubin may have walked away from a title fight, but by his calculation – and given his self-confidence – there were too many factors swaying him in the direction of Vergil Ortiz Jnr.
“It’s going to be a high-paced, high-level matchup – a match they’re going to be talking about for a long time to come,” Lubin said Tuesday in his first public comments since the November 8 DAZN-streamed bout slated for Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, was finalized last week.
Appearing on ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today,” Florida’s former 154lbs title challenger Lubin, 27-2 (19 KOs), detailed the reasons why he walked away from the opportunity to fight IBF titleholder Bakhram Murtazaliev to take on WBC interim belt holder Ortiz, 23-0 (21 KOs), inside his home-state Texas den.
“We felt this was the better option,” Lubin said. “Murtazaliev, we were going to get, but it seemed like no one was going to pick it up and pay for that fight. I was all in on that fight. I didn’t want to pass up on fighting for a world title.”
But in extended talks with ProBox CEO Garry Jonas (also owner of BoxingScene), Lubin knew the purse bid for his mandatory challenge of Russia’s destructive Murtazaliev came with an uncertain purse structure, versus the guaranteed offer put on the table by Ortiz promoter Golden Boy after his attempts to fight former welterweight titlist Jaron “Boots” Ennis and new WBO 154lbs belt holder Xander Zayas went unanswered.
Fighting Ortiz meant more than double the purse money.
“The Vergil fight was there for me and it’s a bigger fight for me, to be honest. Vergil has a big promotion and DAZN behind him,” Lubin said. “Beating a guy like Vergil Ortiz sets me up for every champion. It’s a big fight, a mega-fight.”
Ortiz is coming off impressive victories on the scorecards over top-ranked WBC contender Serhii Bohachuk and former WBA 154lbs champion Israil Madrimov.
ProBoxTV analysts Chris Algieri and Paulie Malignaggi suggested to Lubin that Ortiz has a bigger profile than Murtazaliev and he “might be the guy in the weight class,” repeating daunting tasks that Lubin has already accepted in the division by fighting former undisputed champion Jermell Charlo and current WBA titleholder Sebastian Fundora.
“Me fighting for the WBC interim might be bigger than fighting for the IBF title,” said Lubin, noting the strain of the IBF’s next-day weigh-in rule, which restricts title fighters from rehydrating more than 10 pounds, a requirement Ortiz also frowned upon.
“This is a firefight, a big fight,” Lubin said.
Although Lubin, 29, admitted that Ortiz, 27, may be viewing him as an ideal foe to prepare for fellow DAZN fighter Ennis, “It sets me up” in victory “for Fundora and the other champions,” Lubin said. “I’m truly focused.
“[Ortiz] is a savage, comes to fight every time out there. We’re the same height, the same size, with the same pedigree.”
Lubin maintained that he didn’t take “too much wear and tear,” even though his face was battered in the 2022 loss to Fundora. He said fighting just four times since June 2021 has allowed time for recuperation, and subsequent victories over Premier Boxing Champions standout Jesus Ramos Jnr and IBF eliminator opponent Ardreal Holmes has strengthened him.
“I’m still eager for those [immense] matchups. I’m in it for those fights, in it to be a legend, and Vergil will bring a lot out of me,” Lubin said. “I know what’s at stake. It’s like judgment day for both of us, with people saying he hasn’t fought the champions yet.
“For me, going to his backyard, on a different platform, to come out victorious … this is where I get my glory.”
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
