Vergil Ortiz Jr manager wants alternative opponent to Jaron Ennis

Jaron Ennis may have to wait a little longer for his dream fight with Vergil Ortiz Jr.

Ennis watched on from ringside at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on Saturday, as Ortiz Jr destroyed Erickson Lubin in two rounds.

The pair then faced off following a heated exchange in the ring, as both men made it clear they want to fight each other next.

However, Ortiz’s manager Rick Mirigian seems to prefer a showdown with Errol Spence Jr, who was ringside as well and suggested that ‘Boots’ faces Jermell Charlo on the undercard.

“I think Ortiz vs Spence at Cowboy Stadium,” Mirigian posted on Instagram.

“Biggest all-Texas match-up in history and Charlo vs Boots as co-main and the winners fight each other.

“Just might be fire.

“Makes sense.

“Charlo and Boots both turned Ortiz down.”

Spence, a former unified welterweight world champion, has not fought since a ninth round TKO loss to Terence Crawford in July 2023.

’The Truth’ has previously drawn large crowds at the AT&T Stadium in Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys, for bouts with Mikey Garcia, Danny Garcia and Yordenis Ugas.

And Ortiz, who retained his WBC interim super welterweight title, welcomed the prospect of facing the 35-year-old.

“If I had to pick, it would be Spence,” the 27-year-old told reporters.

“That’s my dream fight.

“At the Cowboys Stadium.

“That’s my dream fight. I don’t care what anybody says about it.”

 

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Ennis called out Ortiz after demolishing Uisma Lima in a round last month to win the WBA interim super welterweight crown.

‘Boots’ was sat alongside his promoter, Eddie Hearn at ringside, who insists the 28-year-old has options should an Ortiz clash fail to materialise.

“The main thing is we want to fight Vergil Ortiz,” Hearn told BoxingScene.

 

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“We’ve agreed to that fight in principle – we all sat in a room; yada yada; Jaron signed for that fight – but he also wants to win those championship belts, which Vergil doesn’t have.

“Whether that’s [IBF champion Bakhram] Murtazaliev; whether that’s [the WBA champion Abass] Baraou; whether that’s [WBO titlist] Xander Zayas; whether that’s [WBC holder Sebastian] Fundora, we don’t care.

“The other name that I am interested in, because I think commercially it’s a big fight, is [Jermell] Charlo.”