It would be great to see them fight next because neither guy knows what the other guy's ceiling is yet. Both guys are hungry and know what a win over the other would do for them. They would be the best versions of themselves. I'm tired of fighters waiting until their 30s to fight guys on their level.
Ok so let's analyze the two fighters and their styles. Let's start with Vergil Ortiz Jr.
Vergil Ortiz Jr. likes to come forward behind a stiff jab, pivoting his upper body, walking over your path the entire time. He keeps a very tight high guard and makes it hard to jab him, simple defense, but it is very effective when done right. He puts together combinations well and has good handspeed, and is not slow of foot, granted his footwork is not flashy, it is very precise though he is rarely off balance. He also likes to circle the ring as well peppering you with jabs. He also punches very hard, and he is still young, he is 21 I believe. He hasn't even gotten his man strength yet. He also attacks the body the entire time you fight. The weaknesses I see in him are his accuracy can be a little all over the place on his power punches. He is precise with his jabs, but he has a tendency to miss the range on his hooks. Also he does not fight as well standing still as he does moving. He can fight off a jab side to side or coming forward, but when I have seen him stand in the pocket and trade I have seen fighters get the better of him in those exchanges. Maurice Hooker was able to stifle him a little standing in the pocket and trading.
Jaron 'Boots' Ennis is a fluid switch hitter. He mixes up his punches in his combinations very well, sometimes switching stances in the middle of his combinations to attack from all angles. He attacks the body and head seamlessly and he has a good use of the Philly Shell shoulder roll. He also slides punches off of his gloves in his rolls, James Toney like defense. Even though he is long, he fights very well on the inside. He also is very young, he is 23 I believe, and he hits very hard. Like Ortiz he still has a lot of baby on his body. He has VERY quick feet and will come at you from all angles, he is very hard to keep up with. He also has the faster hands of the two, granted it isn't a HUGE difference, but it is there. He has a good jab, but honestly I think Ortiz's jab is better, but that is mainly because Ortiz fights a much more technical fight. The weaknesses I see in Ennis are sometimes he will leave himself off balance because of his footwork, he needs to tighten it up, he can take too long of a stride and get caught with a punch he probably wouldn't have gotten caught if he didn't overstep. He also doesn't step back out when he should, he needs to be a half second quicker about it. Lipinets was grazing him with body shots because he wasn't getting back out in time. Also he has a bad habit of dropping his hands, after his combinations at times. I don't care who you are, if you leave yourself open someone is eventually going to test your jaw. Also I would like to see him be a little more consistent with his jab. He has a good one, but he falls in love with his power punches sometimes.
If a fight between these two happens I would see the first few rounds where Ennis would probably use the ring to keep the fight at range and jab him up. Ortiz would be trying to cut the ring off. Ennis is going to leave Ortiz opportunities to hit him because he has that tendency to overstepas good as Ennis is on the inside, Ortiz is better. Both fighters will be landing punches, and it will be a high volume fight. Ortiz has excellent upper body movement and a tight guard so he is not going to take a lot of punishment upstairs. Ennis will have to consistently attack his body to try to open him up, and Ortiz needs to always throw his jab and keep Ennis from setting up his offense. Also attack the body. This will be a battle of who gets the other one boxed off their gameplan first, barring one of them having a glass jaw. I believe Ortiz will press the pace of the fight, and Ennis strategy will be to keep him guessing by using his footwork and angles to keep Ortiz from landing anything big on him, but Ortiz is pretty good at cutting off the ring so he will get moments where he will put some punishment on Ennis, and can Ennis keep the fight from turning into a slugfest, in which I definitely favor Ortiz if that happens.
Right now I would lean slightly towards Jaron Ennis beating Vergil Ortiz Jr. Vergil is a good fighter, but Ennis has a few more tools in his box from what I have seen in them in the ring so far. Ennis has shown me a lot of versatility, Ortiz has not, Ortiz has shown me grit but not versatility. I can see scenarios where both fighters could win the fight, but right now if they fought 10 times I believe Ennis would win 6 of them. With more fights this figure can be adjusted one way or the other.
I have Ennis, but his fight with Lipinets will tell us a lot with how he deals with the pressure and power.
Yeah I think Ennis is much better than Ortiz.
Ortiz stepped up and stopped Hooker, let's see if Ennis can have a great performance against Lipinets.
Ortiz-Ennis makes sense because the other top ten Welterweights won't take the high risk low reward to take these two on.
I agree with South Champion.
I have Ennis, but his fight with Lipinets will tell us a lot with how he deals with the pressure and power.
Ortiz stepped up and stopped Hooker, let's see if Ennis can have a great performance against Lipinets.
Ortiz-Ennis makes sense because the other top ten Welterweights won't take the high risk low reward to take these two on.
Well, Boca should have been. He's got B+ level trash talking.
But he doesn't have the marketing machine behind him like some other folks.
Ortiz jr. and Boots are both planed to be stars , so you will not see this fight very soon, if ever.
The winner of Ortiz-Ennis would get enough fan support to get a big fight. Porter recntly said he won't fight Ortiz because there's too much risk and not enough reward.
Well that says something for sure than. It will be nice to have them elevated a bit more in the upper echelon at 147.
I love to watch both these guys fight.
Going off eye test they both have an IT factor about them.
If they both fought now as contenders and thats what I rate them as, i would go with Boots.
Maybe cause ive seen more of his fights.
Love this fight and high af on both kids - maybe just slightly edge it towrds Boots though I freely admit that's more to do with the praise lavished on him by the likes of Breadman than because my eyes can discern an significant advantage to one or the other.
Neither has really faced opposition of a calibre high enough to expose any real weaknesses although perhaps Boots has an unecessary tendency to play with his food a little and I've noticed Virgil occasionally get a bit scrappy and careless when going for the kill... both are consequences more of youth and inexperience though I'd say... still, bad habits that probably want addressing.
Fairly certain Bocachica The Boss is American, same as Reyes.
Both were undefeated, rising contenders and they just fought.
But they are not hyped like Ortiz jr. and Boots.
5y ago
Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Jaron “Boots” Ennis | BoxingScene Community