Vergil Ortiz Jnr wants the titles, not the fame that comes with boxing.
Ortiz is rumored to have taken an appealing fight with junior middleweight Jaron “Boots” Ennis. Nothing is finalized.
Ortiz, 24-0 (22 KOs), of Grand Prairie, Texas, has risen through the ranks and is the WBC interim junior-middleweight titleholder after winning it against Serhii Bohachuk and defending it against Israil Madrimov and then Erickson Lubin.
“The goal isn’t to be a superstar, the goal is to fight the very best, and to prove to myself that I am the best,” Ortiz told BoxingScene. “I don’t care about being a superstar or about having one billion followers on Instagram.
“For me, it is personal. I want to have these belts on my wall, wake up every day, and see them on my wall.
“It is the physical embodiment of all the hard work I have done my entire life, that belt. It isn’t just a physical object. It is all the blood, sweat, and tears that have come out of my body, all the injuries, all the hard work, and grit over the years.”
In Ortiz’s past fight, he knocked out Lubin in the second round. He trapped Lubin, a southpaw, on the ropes and rendered him unconscious while still standing. Ortiz had heard the pre-fight talk of how Lubin could trouble him, especially given his success in USA Boxing as an amateur, and that motivated him.
“It is not easy at all, especially with some of the caliber of Erickson Lubin,” Ortiz, 27, said. “I was in camp for four months, and I was working hard on my craft. It is really not easy.”
Ortiz was then asked whether the Ennis fight could be next. Alternative options include Errol Spence Jnr or the WBC belt holder Sebastian Fundora.
“It is more than possible,” he said. “I am optimistic that it will happen.”
