Eddie Hearn says he and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis haven’t decided whether to take the fight with WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. for his belt on February 22nd in Riyadh. Hearn states it’s a “big decision” because it would mean ‘Boots’ vacating his IBF welterweight title.
The Matchroom promoter Hearn says a decision will be made in the next 24 hours on which direction Ennis will go.
Hearn wants to see if a unification fight at 147 is possible for Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) for February or March. He says they want to see if that’s possible before deciding on whether to go up to 154 for the Vergil Ortiz Jr. fight.
Protecting Boots?
The unification fights at 147 can definitely happen for Ennis, but Hearn would have to be willing to invest money by meeting the asking price of the three champions at welterweight. Thus far, Hearn hasn’t done that, which is why he failed to negotiate the fight for Boots against WBO champion Brian Norman Jr. and WBA champ Eimantas Stanionis.
Hearn should know whether he’s willing to overpay the champions by now. There’s nothing to decide. Does Hearn want to invest in Boots’ future to stay at welterweight to unify or not? If not, Ennis needs to move up to 154 to challenge Vergil for his WBC interim belt if he and Hearn are confident he can win.
Given Hearn and Boots’ indecision, they may not be. It’s a no-brainer for Ennis to move up to 154 now because the money is much bigger in that weight class, and he rises to fame much faster than if he stays at the dead 147-lb division.
Unification Or Move Up
“Yes, we were proposed a fight [against Vergil Ortiz Jr.] at 147. Whether it was a communication issue or whatever, I was quite surprised because Ortiz was 147 but recently moved to 154 [in 2024],” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing News about a fight between Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr for February 22nd.
“We’re happy to move to 154, but we just have to get our ducks in the row about the championship at 147. Can we unify in February or March or do we just let the [IBF welterweight] belt go and make or move?
“I like the Ortiz fight. I think he’s a very good fighter and I think it’s a good style for Jaron, but it’s a big decision, and that decision will come in the next 24 hours. Ortiz said, ‘I’m not fighting you any less than 154.’ So, we would probably need to vacate and move to 154, which is a big decision,” said Hearn.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Hearn is concerned about Boots’ viability at 154, taking the dangerous Vergil, who could expose him worse than Karen Chukhadzhian did last month on November 9th.
That fight may have bust the bubble where one could see that Ennis is not what people had originally thought. It was a lucid moment. Boots needs to be protected by Hearn to keep his career from falling apart. Putting the Ennis, we saw against Chukhadzhian, in with an apex predator like Vergil Otiz Jr. would be a bad idea. Ennis is not that kind of a talent.
