FORT WORTH, Tex. – Garry Jonas sat on a corner sectional inside an upscale downtown hotel lobby Friday morning, having wolfed down three double espresso shots to brace for the full 40 hours ahead of him.
Not only was his former 154lbs title fighter Erickson Lubin due on the scale for a weigh-in before the most important bout of his 30-year-old life, Jonas was presiding by cell phone over the happenings in Lakeland, Florida, where his boxing-savvy son, Daniel Rubin, was managing ProBoxTV’s 14-fighter event in Lakeland, Florida.
The decision to accompany Lubin from Florida throughout this week in Texas is deep, considering it was Lubin whom Jonas – the owner of ProBox and BoxingScene – first signed for former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson first now-defunct Iron Mike Productions one day after the fighter’s 18th birthday.
“Mike and I had made a conscientious decision to sign and recruit the best fighters turning pro,” Jonas explained. “That year, it was obvious it was Erickson Lubin, so we went after him hard and he signed with us.”
Lubin, 27-2 (19KOs), now 30, finds himself Saturday at Dickies Arena confronting a watershed boxing match on DAZN versus unbeaten WBC interim 154lbs champion Vergil Ortiz Jnr of nearby Grand Prairie,Texas.
As Lubin’s promoter, Jonas reflected on the trials of his fighter’s journey, contrasting it with the less turbulent path that has moved Ortiz to the main event with a 23-0 record with 21 knockouts and a chance to next meet recent unified welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis if he can defeat Lubin.
“There is a sort of recency bias on Lubin versus Ortiz,” Jonas said.”The truth is, from the time Ortiz has come into the sport, he’s been the prodigal son of being a Mexican star [promoter Oscar De La Hoya] and he’s been promoted that way with Golden Boy.
“What happened with Lubin, it was the same journey from being a top amateur. His launch was the same way – his first three years were phenomenal, 18-0.”
But in 2017, in the main event of a Showtime card at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, the 22-year-old Lubin was knocked out 2 minutes, 41 seconds into the first round by eventual undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo.
“He was favored to win that fight. Had he won that fight, he’d have been a superstar,” Jonas said. “The ensuing result of that fight … we could replay that fight 1,000 times and that fight would not end up that way ... it doesn’t mean Charlo wouldn’t win that fight. We don’t know. But to suggest the first time he’d get touched in the fight, bending down into a body shot, turning the wrong way, was just a lightning strike you could in no way replicate.”
Working to come back from that was already an unenviable task, but Lubin then found himself buried behind a slew of talented 154lbs fighters employed by his then-new promoter Premier Boxing Champions, including champions Charlo, Julian Williams, Jarrett Hurd, Erislandy Lara and Jeison Rosario.
“When he came back, the problem was that he [was] fighting once a year,” Jonas said. “That wasn’t a journey for Ortiz. That wasn’t a journey for most at 23, 24 years old.
“He just had to sit there and keep fighting good, quality opponents on Showtime, and slowly build his way back up.”
Lubin nevertheless won six consecutive fights amid the limited activity, only to find himself staring up at an imposing 2022 assignment against current WBC 154lbs champion, 6-feet-6 ½ Sebastian Fundora.
Lubin responded to a knockdown by decking Fundora, but by the ninth round, Lubin’s face was so bloodied, the bout was stopped.
“His face gave out on him for sure. The fight was closer than his face represented. We all have to understand that when you’re seeing Sebastian Fundora for the first time, he has a major advantage over fighters he’s meeting for the first time,” Jonas said. “He’s seen fighters like Erickson Lubin and Vergil Ortiz before. They’ve never seen anything like him.
“And they’ve got to get in there in that first round and figure out over 12 rounds – how am I going to deal with this guy? He’s a bit of a freak. So the only loss Erickson has other than this lightning strike event is this anomaly. He has that circumstance, and now needs a year to recover from that.”
Lubin again went back to an elite contender’s square one, getting fights with the help of Jonas’ formation of ProBoxTV.
“That’s one of the reasons I got back involved. Like, hey guys [PBC], can we deviate a little bit and get him opportunities outside of PBC, because you guys have got a logjam. They were gracious enough to be like, ‘OK, Garry, you got him, go.’ We got him busy and moving, and they’re allowing us to take this fight with Golden Boy,” said Jonas, who counts Lester Martinez, Ramon Cardenas and featherweight champion Angelo Leo among his stable.
Lubin fought and won three times post-Fundora, including a defensive victory over PBC prospect Jesus Ramos.
Where is his offense? Where’s his explosiveness? Jonas said he heard. “All this to say his road has been unusual and leads to people saying, ‘Oh, Lubin’s not that good,’” Jonas said.
“The fan would see it that way because his journey is not like that of the other 154s. How do you explain that?
“I know he’s a supremely gifted fighter who [functions[in those little windows that fighters have. That’s what makes boxing such a very interesting sport. You’re going to train for 10 years and prepare, and you’ve got all this time invested for this 45-minute window to get all these things to come together when any of these things can go wrong.
“Well, it went wrong twice for Erickson. You put him in all these circumstances where he wasn’t busy … there’s only so many fights to go around.”
Meanwhile, as welterweight and junior-middleweight champions have avoided Ortiz and he’s overcome some illness, he’s “had the benefit of being with Golden Boy, which treats Mexican fighters with high priority,” Jonas said.
“So now you look at him and Lubin and their last four years and you can compare them more fairly.”
Lubin has served as a sort of prototype for the types of fighters Jonas seeks for ProBox.
“In a way, yes,” he said. “We want them to come here to climb the ladder, to be developed, to be built.”
Lubin undoubtedly has been built by this journey.
“Obviously now that he’s getting his third shot, it’s time for him to execute and live up to his unfulfilled promise that he’s had over the years,” Jonas said while sitting within earshot of Ortiz manager Rick Mirigian.
“That’s why my buddy sitting over here is so nervous. Deep down inside, they’ve chosen an opponent who is a box of chocolates – a gifted, talented guy. If that guy shows up Saturday, you may have a problem.
“[Lubin] has skill level, talent. He’s got to deliver and come through under the big lights. That’s going to be his cross to bear.
“That’s what’s on the line. When Lubin gets in the ring, he’s going to see Charlo. He’s going to see Fundora. He’s going to see Ortiz. And he has to bring his ‘A’ game. His chances are strong. He’s coming to this fight off a [recent] fight [in May], made strides to get away from the distractions.
“If ever we’re going to see Lubin execute and deliver on that promise, it would be Saturday night.”
