Eimantas Stanionis has spent the past several weeks targeting an unbeaten welterweight from the greater Dallas area for his next fight.
Such a fight could materialize, even if not against the fighter that the secondary titlist had in mind.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the WBA has ordered a mandatory title fight between Lithuania’s Stanionis (14-0, 9KOs; 1ND) and Vergil Ortiz Jr. (19-0, 19KOs), the undefeated knockout artist from Grand Prairie, Texas. The order comes two days after the November 16 deadline in place for Stanionis to have secured a voluntary defense of his WBA ‘Regular’ title.
The two sides will have 30 days to negotiate terms for a fight that is officially due to take place by January 16, 2023.
Stanionis is represented by promoter Richard Schaefer and his Probellum company, along with manager Shelly Finkel. Ortiz fights for Golden Boy Promotions and is managed by Rick Mirigian.
The order comes after both fighters pushed for the WBA to enforce their specific status. As previously reported by BoxingScene.com, Ortiz petitioned the WBA to order a fight with Stanionis as the sanctioning body’s mandatory challenger. Meanwhile, Stanionis pushed for a title consolidation clash with WBA ‘Super’ champ Errol Spence Jr. (28-0, 22KOs), the unbeaten Desoto, Texas native who also holds the WBC and IBF titles. Stanionis spoke up on having the fight ordered once plans collapsed for a discussed undisputed championship between Spence and WBO welterweight titleholder Terence Crawford (38-0, 29KOs).
Stanionis was joined by unbeaten welterweight contender Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (29-0, 27KOs), who sought to have his IBF mandatory status enforced for a similar fight.
It appears that neither will land a fight with Spence. There is a chance that Ennis could be approved to fight for an interim IBF title should Spence not immediately let go of the belt outright.
Meanwhile, a decision will need to be made whether Spence can keep his WBA ‘Super’ title or if Stanionis will be upgraded and recognized as the lone WBA welterweight title claimant.
Stanionis won the belt in a twelve-round decision over Radzhab Butaev on April 16 at AT&T Stadium, home to the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas. The bout aired on Showtime preceding a Pay-Per-View telecast headlined by Spence’s tenth-round stoppage of Yordenis Ugas in their three-belt unification bout.
Spence-Ugas took place only because of Stanionis, who agreed to step aside in exchange for getting a shot at the winner. The 2016 Olympian for Lithuania once again stood down while Spence-Crawford talks were underway, as all parties agreed that the fight served the greater good for the sport.
That concession dried up the moment Spence was—and remains—left without an opponent. However, between the WBA order as well as Philadelphia’s Ennis likely to fight in January, it is very likely that Spence moves forward with his WBC-ordered mandatory title defense against former unified titlist Keith Thurman (30-1, 22KOs).
Ortiz advanced to the mandatory position for Stanionis’ version of the title following a ninth-round knockout of England’s Michael McKinson. Their August 13 clash of unbeaten welterweights was a sanctioned WBA title eliminator, specifically to next challenge Stanionis in a ruling that can only make sense to the WBA staff who long ago thought it wise to create multiple versions of its title.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox