The whole lot was good – till it wasn’t.
Earlier this week BoxingScene reported that tremendous welterweight knockout artist Vergil Ortiz Jnr and IBF welterweight titleholder Jaron Ennis had reached a verbal settlement to struggle one another on February 22 in Saudi Arabia.
The scrap was presupposed to happen at 154 kilos, the division the place Ortiz, 22-0 (21 KOs) has competed in over his final three fights and the load class Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) has been eyeing since capturing the primary main crown of his profession.
However by Saturday morning, Ortiz’s supervisor Rick Mirigian acknowledged Boots pumped the brakes on the struggle and modified his thoughts, reportedly asking to struggle at 147 kilos as a substitute.
Ortiz took to social media to share his stance on the slugfest slipping by way of the cracks.
“I’ve all the time mentioned I’ll struggle anyone and I remained true to my phrase,” mentioned Ortiz. “Each single person who I’ve been provided to struggle I mentioned sure. It takes two to tango in boxing, so if I’m not in that ring preventing somebody, understand it’s not my fault! Time for a few of you guys to cease saying I’m ducking and don’t need to struggle as a result of that’s not the case this time and by no means was.”
Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the Common Leisure Authority in Saudi Arabia, commented on Ortiz’s publish and mentioned “You’ll have an ideal struggle.”
Xander Zayas, 20-0 (12 KOs), then indicated that he had accepted a proposal to struggle Ortiz.
Ennis tried to clear the air across the scenario by releasing an announcement Saturday on social media. “I noticed the rumors on social media similar to y’all did so far as the struggle with me and Vergil. I used to be unaware that alleged negotiations had been being made on my finish. From right here on out if it did not come from me and me solely, do not consider it. And I’ll deal with if I am staying at 147 or shifting as much as 154 at a later date and time.”
With Ennis out of the image, stories steered Sebastian Fundora may step in to face Ortiz earlier than Zayas grew to become the frontrunner.
Ortiz-Ennis was presupposed to be featured on a card headlined by the rematch between undisputed gentle heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. Ortiz final fought in August and survived two knockdowns in opposition to Serhii Bohachuk to attain a majority determination win in a fight-of-the-year contender.
Ennis scored a unanimous determination victory in a rematch in opposition to obligatory challenger Karen Chukhadzhian in November.
Fundora final fought in March and upset Tim Tzsyu on brief discover by way of cut up determination whereas Zayas is but to compete in a scheduled 12-rounder.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports activities journalist, author and broadcast reporter whose work has appeared on ESPN, Fox Sports activities, USA At present, The Guardian, Newsweek, Males’s Well being, NFL.com, Los Angeles Occasions, Philadelphia Inquirer, Ring Journal and extra. He has been writing for BoxingScene since 2018. Manouk is a member of the Boxing Writers Affiliation of America and the MMA Journalists Affiliation. He might be reached on X (previously Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, by way of e mail at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or by way of www.ManoukAkopyan.com.
