WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis have a verbal settlement to battle at 154 on the February twenty second Riyadh Season card in Saudi Arabia. Vergil must be seen as a stable favourite stepping into as a result of he’s appeared very spectacular in his three fights at 154, beating Serhii Bohachuk, Thomas Dulorme, and Fredrick Lawson.
The 154-lb weight for the Vergi Jr. vs. Boots battle is heavier than what Ennis’ promoter Eddie Hearn had spoken about this week. Hearn had talked about that the load could possibly be 147, which might have been troublesome for Vergil (22-0, 21 KOs) to make. He hasn’t fought at 147 since 2022, and he’d been having issues.
Lance Pugmire broke the information of the verbal settlement for the Ortiz-Ennis battle on February twenty second. It’s an awesome battle and one of many higher ones on the cardboard. The opposite attention-grabbing fights are as follows:
– Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2
– Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker
– Shakur Stevenson vs. Floyd Schofield
– Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz
– Anthony Cacace vs. Eduardo ‘Sugar’ Nunez
The verbal settlement is that Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) will problem Ortiz for his newly gained WBC interim 154-lb title, and it’s attainable that he might select to remain within the division if he’s victorious.
If Ennis loses, he ought to return to the welterweight division and proceed defending his IBF title. There’s nothing for Ennis at 147, but when he can’t hack it at 154, he’d haven’t any selection however to maneuver again down.
There’s quite a bit to lose for Boots as a result of there’s been a lot hype put into his profession by individuals within the final three years, and he’s fought nobody to earn the excessive reward that has been mentioned about him. In Ennis’ final two fights in opposition to Karen Chukhadzhian and David Avanesyan. Ennis appeared very beatable in each fights.
Even earlier than these two contests, Ennis had proven indicators that he wasn’t nearly as good as individuals thought. He struggled within the first battle in opposition to Chukhadzhian final 12 months and appeared poor in his conflict in opposition to Roiman Villa.
That’s 4 fights the place Ennis had not appeared nice, and if he loses to Vergil Ortiz, the educated followers who’ve adopted his profession gained’t be stunned at seeing him get overwhelmed,
