It seems the fans are getting concerned, worried. Will Vergil Ortiz-Jaron Ennis – arguably the hottest, most fan-demanded fight in the entire sport right now – take place next? Or at all? The language that came from Ortiz’s trainer, Robert Garcia, and Vergil’s manager, Rick Mirigian, this soon after Ortiz’s quick and impressive win over Erickson Lubin, has not gone down too well with the fans.
The Spence Detour
While Ortiz, the warrior, said he will fight “the best” and that “it can be Boots next,” there is also ongoing talk of Ortiz fighting someone else next. And the idea Ortiz’s manager has put forward for the next fight for the WBC interim champ at 154 pounds is not too attractive.
Mirigian put it out there on his Instagram page yesterday that he wants to see Ortiz fight former welterweight champ Errol Spence (you remember Spence, right?) in what he thinks could be “the biggest all-Texas matchup in history.”
A Faded Spence, A Risky Sell
But do the fans have any interest in seeing Ortiz, who, judging by Saturday’s performance, is at the top of his game, against an inactive Spence, who, the last time he did fight, way back in July of 2023, was beaten up bad by Terence Crawford. Would Spence, now aged 35 and a fighter some said was significantly damaged before the Crawford fight, due to that nasty car crash Spence was in, be able to give Ortiz any kind of a fight at all? Do we want to find out?
Also, never mind the fact that Spence has done nothing to earn or deserve a title shot, even an interim title shot. To be fair, Mirigian added in his post that his idea is to have Boots fight on the Ortiz-Spence card, against Jermell Charlo (who has also been extremely inactive), and that the two winners should then fight. But do the fans want to wait?
It Must Be Ortiz–Ennis Next
No, it has to be Ortiz-Boots next. It has to be. Anything else, and the fans will scream and shout that Ortiz, or at least his team, doesn’t want to fight Ennis. After his win over Lubin, Ortiz listed some names he could fight next, including Boots, Spence, and Crawford. Garcia listed Charlo, Boots, Xander Zayas, and Spence as the possible next opponent for Ortiz. But to repeat, the longer the fans are made to wait for the big one, the demanded one, between Ortiz and Ennis, the more annoyed they will get. And the more worried they will get that the fight will never happen.