FRESNO, California – The “meat and potatoes” of a deal to bring Vergil Ortiz and Jaron “Boots” Ennis together will happen in the next fortnight, according to Rick Mirigian, Ortiz’s manager.
The bout would pit two of the most celebrated fighters of the modern era against each other in a junior middleweight bout, seeing both collide in their primes. BoxingScene reported that an Ortiz-Ennis bout could be finalized by the end of the week.
Ortiz is coming off a knockout win last month against Erickson Lubin in two rounds. Ortiz, 24-0 (22 KOs), and his team were in attendance this past Saturday for the ProBox TV card in Fresno, California, as they gave an update on the fight.
“We are trying to make the fight happen,” Mirigian told BoxingScene. “That is an honest statement…it is a priority to get the Boots fight done.
“I imagine most of the meat and potatoes of the deal will happen over the next 14 days.”
Ortiz, a 27-year-old from Grand Prairie, Texas, shared his thoughts about whether Ennis, 35-0 (31 KOs), could be his next foe.
“It is more than possible. I am optimistic that it will happen,” Ortiz told BoxingScene. “My job is to fight.[Mirigian’s] job is to make the fight happen.”
Robert Garcia, who serves as one of Ortiz’s trainers along with Ortiz’s father, Vergil Ortiz Snr, shared his thoughts.
“At 154lbs, there are a lot of big fights for him,” Garcia said. “Boots is the one we would prefer, and that would be our first choice.”
“It needs to be next. If it is not next, it should be within one or two fights from now. That fight needs to happen, and it will happen.”
Ennis, a 28-year-old from Philadelphia, is a former IBF welterweight titleholder who recently made his debut in the junior middleweight division with a first-round destruction of Uisma Lima. What makes the bout so unique is that despite it being perceived between the best fighters in the division, neither is a current titleholder.
“It takes two guys that are special to make a super fight,” Mirigian said. “So, the goal is, at least on my side, to make sure they are fairly compensated.”
After Ortiz stopped Lubin last month, Ennis entered the ring for a face-off.
“I am not too dramatic about it, I saw it as this is the guy everyone wants me to fight,” Ortiz said. “I mellow things out a lot. That is how I keep my mind straight when crazy things happen in the ring, I just see it as another Saturday.”
