The mission to make fights when they are ripe for the picking is a fundamental pursuit of Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh, and as he surveyed the sport’s richest division, one bout in particular was there for the making.
And BoxingScene has learned that knockout machine Vergil Ortiz Jnr 22-0 (21 KOs) and IBF welterweight titleholder Jaron “Boots” Ennis, 33-0 (29 KOs), have verbally agreed to fight for Ortiz’s WBC interim junior middleweight belt, according to an official familiar with the negotiations but unauthorized to speak publicly on the matter because contracts are not signed yet.
The official said the bout is being pegged for what’s becoming a stacked February 22 card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Alalshikh is also aiming to anchor the card with the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol II undisputed light heavyweight championship, Daniel Dubois’ IBF heavyweight title defense against former WBO belt holder Joseph Parker and a middleweight title defense by WBC titlist Carlos Adames versus top-ranked Hamzah Sheeraz. Eddie Hearn also says he has offered Floyd Schofield a substantial sum to face Shakur Stevenson and heavyweights Agit Kabayel and Zhilei Zhang could also be included on the bill.
Ortiz, 26, is coming off a stirring majority decision victory over Serhii Bohachuk on August 10 in Las Vegas after getting knocked down twice, landing the more abundant and effective punches, while Ennis, 27, is coming off perhaps his flattest showing yet, a unanimous decision title-defense triumph over Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9 in Philadelphia.
Ortiz traveled to Saudi Arabia for the Nov. 16 “Latino Night” card staged in Riyadh by his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, after previously impressing Alalshikh from his ringside-seat vantage point in August.
While Ortiz has maintained an “I’ll fight anybody” philosophy to attain a championship belt and greater riches, Ennis’ interest in the bout has been viewed as being less earnest, according to an insider.
Alalshikh made it clear to the connected promoters – particularly Ennis’ promoter, Eddie Hearn – that he wants this fight to happen next, and that directive has proven meaningful to bring it closer to reality.
Eric Gomez, president of De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, told “Fight Freaks Unite” in a Tuesday story that, “We’ll know in the next couple of weeks whether we can get it done or not.”
If realized, the bout promises to be a fascinating match of Ortiz’s forceful forward attack versus Ennis’ powerful and creative style.
While Ennis has averaged ending his fights in four rounds or fewer, his resume is lacking. Part of that is because others, like former welterweight titleholders Errol Spence Jnr and Terence Crawford, found other things to do rather than fight him.
Still, after Chukhadzhian landed several flush punches on Ennis earlier this month, the mystery remains how Ennis will fare when struck by a world-class puncher like Ortiz.
Ennis-Ortiz would follow another top-shelf 154lbs non-title bout that Alalshikh is staging in Saudi Arabia on December 21, when Bohachuk meets Israil Madrimov, the former WBA 154lbs titlist who surrendered his belt to four-division champion Crawford by a narrow unanimous decision on August 3.
The division’s other titleholders are Sebastian Fundora (WBC-WBO) and Bakhram Murtazaliev (IBF).
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.