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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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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that they were not interested because they already have other plans in the works.
Although the Ortiz and Ennis camps agreed to the fight they were clearly not on the same page about the weight limit.
When Queensberry Promotions, the official promoter of the card, sent over a brief term sheet for signatures to Ortiz promoter Golden Boy all was in order except for it identifying the bout as being for Ennis’ 147-pound world title, a source with knowledge of the paperwork told Fight Freaks Unite.
When that was flagged, Ortiz’s camp was told that was what the Ennis team at Matchroom Boxing had said was the weight to include on the term sheet, the source said.
That made the fight a nonstarter. Ortiz has not made the welterweight limit since August 2022 and never had any intention of going down to 147 pounds, where he struggled badly to make weight. In the days leading to a mandatory shot against WBA titlist Eimantas Stanionis in July 2023, Ortiz passed out during his weight cut, was hospitalized and the fight was canceled, costing him and Stanionis seven-figure paydays.
When Ortiz (22-0, 21 KOs), 26, a southpaw from Grand Prairie, Texas, returned to the ring in January he did so as a junior middleweight, where he has won all three of his 2024 bouts, including via majority decision over Serheii Bohachuk in a fight of the year contender to take his WBC interim 154-pound title in August.
Ortiz’s weight issues have been well chronicled, so it would be shocking if Ennis and Matchroom Boxing offcials were not aware that Ortiz would not box at 147 pounds, especially holding an interim belt at 154 pounds. Also, Ennis struggles himself to make 147 pounds and recently indicated he was looking to move to 154 pounds.
Although Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs), 27, won a lopsided decision to retain his title against mandatory challenger Karen Chukhadzhian in a rematch on Nov. 9 in Ennis’ hometown of Philadelphia, he had a much tougher time than he did in the shutout decision he won in their first fight in January 2023.
After Ennis’ win three weeks ago, he and Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn spoke about Ennis’ struggles making 147 pounds as perhaps being a reason for his less-than-stellar showing.
“My performance was OK,” Ennis said in the ring after the bout. “I don’t know, man. I think it might be time to go to 154. I felt good, but I feel at 154 I’m going to be way better and my pop will be how it’s supposed to be.”
Also in the ring after the fight, Hearn added, “I’ve noticed this week he’s been much tighter at 147. Perhaps it is time to move o 154. It’s very difficult to do it when you want to win belts and you hold a world championship. But also if it’s affecting your performance you have to move up.”
With Ennis out, attention immediately turned to trying to line up Fundora to fight Ortiz on Feb. 22, but that won’t happen, Lewkowicz said.
Lewkowicz said he received a call on Friday on behalf of the Saudi Arabian organizers inquiring about Fundora’s availability to fight Ortiz in Saudi Arabia but he turned it down.
“We have other plans for Fundora and we will not change,” Lewkowicz said. “So, definitely doesn't happen. We have other plans. We didn't talk about money because money is not everything. Sebastian Fundora’s plan is already written and we will not accept any offer.”
It has been no secret that Lewkowicz and Premier Boxing Champions are looking to match Fundora in a title defense against former unified welterweight titlist Errol Spence Jr. in their first fights of 2025.
Because of a bad nose injury, Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs), 26, a southpaw from Coachella, California, has not boxed since March when he won a bloody and gruesome split decision over Tim Tszyu in Las Vegas to win the vacant WBC 154-pound title and take the WBO belt from Tszyu.
Tszyu bled severely for most of the fight from a horrendous cut on his scalp while Fundora also bled badly from his nose for most of the bout.
The Feb. 22 Riyadh Season card has not been announced yet, but is expected to be stacked and include fights such as IBF heavyweight titlist Daniel Dubois against Joseph Parker; the rematch between undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol; Carlos Adames defending the WBC middleweight title against Hamzah Sheeraz; and Zhilei Zhang against Agit Kabayel in a battle of top 10 heavyweight contenders.
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Photos: Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy; Ennis: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
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Damn, hate to see it. But I've learned over the years there's more that one way to avoid a fight. Ortiz at 147 was always a nonstarter so if Boots wasn't ready for 154 then him and Hearn were just wasting everyone's time.
For this misstep to make sense, though, Boots BETTER get a unification bout NEXT. Norman is hurt. Barrios is the most vulnerable so his phone always rings with multiple options. It's Stanionis of bust.
I’m a Pennsylvania guy and love Boots, but he’s not helping himself here. Eddie put in two nice shows here with crappy opponents and put pretty good weight behind the promotions. I can’t see him putting up with more of this though.