Will we get to see the big fight we all want to see, this between Vergil Ortiz and Jaron “Boots” Ennis, in 2026? The two fighters and their respective teams “agreed” the fight in a meeting in the summer, Eddie Hearn has said numerous times, with the promoter of Ennis stating at Saturday’s post-fight presser following Ennis’s quick and impressive KO win over Uisma Lima that “if everybody’s true to their word, you will see Boots against Ortiz in early 2026.”
Both fighters and their teams keeping their word aside, Boots sees another potential roadblock that could scupper the fight. Ortiz will return to action in November, against Erickson Lubin, and Ennis says this fight is absolutely no guaranteed win for Ortiz. In fact, Ennis says the November 8 fight is “50-50.”
“It’s a great fight, and I think it’s a 50-50 fight,” Ennis said of Ortiz-Lubin as quoted by The Ring. “You can’t really sleep on Lubin. Lubin a crafty southpaw. He sharp, he can punch as well, it’s gonna be a great fight. And Vergil will bring pressure and he got a good jab, throw a lotta punches. It’s a great fight for boxing and I think it’s a 50-50 fight.”
How many times over the years have we looked ahead to a super-fight, with one of the star fighters losing their next fight in an upset, with the super-fight ruined as a result? Too many times. Could it happen again here, with Lubin pulling off the upset over Ortiz? Maybe, and maybe we would then get to see Lubin fight Boots in a big fight.
This would be a shame (although not for Lubin, naturally), as there really is something genuinely exciting about the idea of Ortiz and Ennis rumbling, this in a fight where, due to the styles of the two men, the action would almost certainly prove memorable, special. For now, let’s hope Ortiz, 23-0(21) is fully focused on the task at hand and that he is thinking only about Lubin, not about Boots. This, thankfully, does seem to be the way Ortiz is handling his business.
Does Ortiz get past Lubin, 27-2(19) and is the November fight really a pick ’em affair the way Boots says it is?