Golden Boy promoter Bernard Hopkins guarantees that Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to fight in 2025. He believes that “greed” and “politics” will not prevent that match from happening next year. Fans are convinced that Ennis ran away from Virgil Jr. because he lost the conference after a poor result in the second leg against Karen Chuhadjian on November 9.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
Is Ennis avoiding Ortiz Jr.?
If this isn’t a scare from Boots because he didn’t agree to fight Ortiz, he needs to move up to 154 because nothing will happen to him if he stays at 147. He says he’s staying at welterweight because he wants to set up Eddie Hearn to fight the champion.
That doesn’t happen, and he doesn’t seem to see things as they are. Hearn has failed and will continue to fail in setting up the fights Ennis needs against other champions. Unless Turki Alalshikh helps, Hearn won’t generate the money needed to organize the unification fights Boots is looking for.
Winning those belts won’t make Ennis more popular because the fans don’t know who the champions are at 147. The three champions Boots needs to fight to become undisputed are complete unknowns, and he has nothing to gain by beating them.
So he would be better off moving to 154 and taking Vergil Jr. for his interim WBC title. Of course, that’s if the reason she doesn’t fight him is fear, which could be the real reason.
Lost to Ortiz Jr. would ruin Ennis’ careerr, sabotaging the revenue stream that was coming in without ever being tested against A or elite level fighters. Maybe it’s just the hype business, which is why he looked so bad in his two fights against Karen Chukhadzhian and in his bouts against David Avanesian and Roiman Villa.
Money and politics had nothing to do with the fight not happening on February 22nd. Boots (33-0, 29 KOs) and WBC Interim Junior Middleweight Champion Vergil Jr. (22-0, 21 KO) are not fighting. Ennis, 27, decided he didn’t want to move up to 154 because he wanted to stay at 147 to continue his relentless pursuit of a welterweight unification.
Ennis just doesn’t understand. He won’t be able to get the fights he needs at 147 because champions don’t want to lose their belts without being paid a huge amount of money. Hopkins’ optimistic outlook for a fight between Ennis and Ortiz Jr next year is naive, and he doesn’t see the real issue – money or lack thereof.
“Whether it’s Team Boots or Golden Boy, the fans will be looking for that fight, and the money and the opportunity will present themselves.” They won’t be able to say no,” Bernard Hopkins told Fighthpe about the fight between Jeron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Virgil Ortiz Jr. “The fight will happen (in 2025).
“The timing was not right for each side.” They still have to cross paths with each other before they get to the next level,” Hopkins said of Ortiz and Ennis. “I guarantee you that the fights that are supposed to happen will happen.”
Hearn’s role and challenges
Some fans believe Boots is obsessed with unifying the 147-pound division. He doesn’t realize that his promoter, Eddie Hearn, can’t set up fights against other champions. If Ennis’ name was Anthony Joshua, Hearn would have better luck getting the fight because he would generate the money to get the fights AJ demands.
Boots is no Joshua in terms of popularity, and the unification fights he’s looking for probably won’t happen in 2025, 2026 or 2027. He’ll be old and have nothing to show for the precious belts he’s chasing.
