Vergil Ortiz-Jaron Ennis fight talks stalled after purse dispute

Purse dispute over proposed Jaron Ennis fight expands into legal conflict with Golden Boy Promotions

Vergil Ortiz Jr. rejected a $3 million offer to fight Jaron Ennis. The purse dispute has now expanded into a legal conflict with Golden Boy Promotions.

According to a report by BoxingScene, Golden Boy proposed a deal that would have paid Ortiz a $3 million guarantee for the Ennis fight along with a pay per view revenue share. The structure included a 50-50 split of net revenue once the event exceeded 200,000 DAZN pay per view buys.

Ortiz’s manager Rick Mirigian rejected the proposal and instead requested a flat $7 million purse for the fight without any pay per view thresholds attached. Golden Boy declined that counteroffer, bringing negotiations for the Ennis matchup to a halt.

The dispute over money soon spread beyond a single fight negotiation. When talks collapsed, it developed into a wider contractual conflict between Ortiz and his promoter, with both sides challenging the terms of the existing promotional deal.

Interest in the fight had grown steadily because both fighters entered discussions with undefeated records and reputations as aggressive offensive fighters. Ortiz had built momentum with victories over Serhii Bohachuk, Israil Madrimov, and Erickson Lubin, while Ennis recently moved up to junior middleweight and scored a first round knockout in his debut at the weight.

The legal conflict eventually reached court in Nevada. A judge ruled that Ortiz could not immediately terminate his promotional contract with Golden Boy and ordered the dispute to proceed to arbitration.

That ruling leaves the contractual situation unresolved. Until arbitration determines the outcome of the promotional agreement, the proposed fight between Ortiz and Ennis has no clear timetable.