Pre-fight interviews, in our screen-addled times, often concern future fights yet to be realized more than the fight that has been made and is going to happen.
Insane as it might sound, a not-insignificant talking point before and after Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol I was the idea that Beterbiev would next go up to cruiserweight to reignite his amateur rivalry with Oleksandr Usyk. Wonder what happened to that totally not-crazy idea. Beterbiev, as with many fighters, said he remained focused on the fight ahead (and dismissed the Usyk idea as unrealistic).
Ahead of his fight with Vergil Ortiz Jnr this Saturday, Erickson Lubin seems to have no such reservations. While speaking to FightHype, he expressed interest in rematches with Sebastian Fundora and Jermell Charlo to avenge his only two losses, as well as challenging titleholders Xander Zayas and Bakhram Murtazaliev.
All this was in response to the first question of the interview: “How you feeling, champ?”
In fairness, Lubin also said he was feeling great and is looking forward to fighting Ortiz. But the answer foreshadowed something he said later in the interview: Above all, he wants a belt.
Asked about Jaron “Boots” Ennis and his impressive destruction of an overmatched Uisma Lima last month, Lubin gave Ennis his props and didn’t try to criticize the resume of the oft-nitpicked Philadelphian.
But Lubin isn’t interested in fighting Ennis just yet.
“I could see myself fighting Boots… maybe one day,” Lubin said. “Boots is a tremendous fighter. He has great skill. Me and Boots in the ring, I think it’d be a firefight, a highly skillful matchup. But right now, honestly, I’m looking to get one of these belts.”
Defeating Ortiz would get him a step closer, but it’ll be no easy task.
Lubin, 27-2 (19 KOs), has a deserved reputation for being a warrior, predominantly due to his ninth-round stoppage loss to Fundora in April 2022. Lubin absorbed punishment throughout the fight, his face swelling alarmingly as he did. In the seventh round, though, he conjured a magnificent knockdown against the flow of momentum that made the fight an instant classic. The only other blemishes on Lubin’s resume are a first-round KO loss to Charlo in 2017 – Charlo slipped in a nearly invisible short right hand to the chin that Lubin never saw coming – and a decision win over Jesus Ramos in 2023 that hardly anybody felt he deserved.
Ortiz, 23-0 (21 KOs), already has an argument for being better than all those fighters, and he is a -900 favorite on DraftKings. With a potential superfight with Ennis looming and boxing’s history in mind, if the cards are close, they likely won’t favor Lubin.
“This is a legacy-type fight for me,” Lubin said. “[Ortiz] is a young, undefeated, furious fighter. This right here sets up everything for me. I’m in my prime now, and I’m excited to show the world that I’m the number one 154-pounder in boxing.”
