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Vergil Ortiz-Boots Ennis craters; no go for Riyadh Season mega event

Vergil Ortiz-Boots Ennis craters; no go for Riyadh Season mega event

The inside story of what happened and the subsequent call to unified titlist Sebastian Fundora about replacing Ennis in the bout

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Dan Rafael
Nov 30, 2024
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Fight Freaks Unite
Fight Freaks Unite
Vergil Ortiz-Boots Ennis craters; no go for Riyadh Season mega event
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A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.

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There’s the old adage that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. That appears to apply to the prospect of what most viewed as a can’t-miss fight between WBC interim junior middleweight titlist Vergil Ortiz Jr. and IBF welterweight titlist Jaron “Boots” Ennis.

The sides had agreed to the fight, which was supposed to be part a mega card Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh is putting together for a Riyadh Season event on Feb. 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. However, the fight cratered on Friday, leaving organizers looking for a new opponent to fight Ortiz, multiple sources told Fight Freaks Unite.

The Saudis reached out to WBC/WBO junior middleweight titleholder Sebastian Fundora’s promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, to gauge their interest in the bout. Lewkowicz told Fight Freaks Unite on Friday night


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