Vergil Ortiz Jr.'s manager closes door on future Jaron Ennis fight

Vergil Ortiz Jr’s manager Rick Mirigian says there will be no second chance for Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to ever get an opportunity to fight his Virg after he chose not to face him on the 22nd card. February.

No second chance

Mirigian told Boxingscene, “Boots won’t get another chance,” he thinks he’s cool with it. Obviously, if Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) wanted to fight Vergil, this would be the time because the money would be huge and the visibility high.

Everyone deserves a second chance at life, but there is a lack of trust in this case. Team Ortiz Jr. doesn’t want to waste time on Boots and ends up with nothing to show if he losing his nerve.

Many fans around the world will be watching the Riyadh season card on February 22 because it is one of the best in years. Virgil Jr. can now face either of these two fighters on that card:

– Erislandy Lara
– Xander Zayas

If Ennis were to move up to 154 and position himself for a world championship for a belt that Virgil Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) has, he would probably take this fight. Ortiz Jr. won’t leave a belt of bitterness just because Ennis didn’t want to fight him this time. That would be childish and self-destructive.

Words mean nothing

‘Boots’ Ennis’ promoter Eddie Hearn says he wants to stay at 147 to consolidate the division before considering moving up to 154 to go after the big names. Hearn insists that when Ennis gains weight, Vergil Jr. would be the first guy he wanted to meet. It’s just words and means nothing now after Mirigian’s statement that Ennis won’t get another chance.

The way the 27-year-old Ennis looked in his rematch against Karen Chukhadzhian on Nov. 9, his career could fall apart well before he moves up to 154. He looked absolutely awful against Chukhadzhian, getting hit with potshots all night and was forced to look bad in front of his hometown crowd at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

In retrospect, Hearn should have known better than to have Boots face Chukhadzhian again after the trouble he had in their first fight on January 7, 2023 in Washington, D.C. Ennis looked lost in that fight when he was schooled from A to B by Chukhadzhian. In the aftermath, Boots blamed his performance on focusing too much on trying to get a knockout.

Jaron said going into the rematch, “I’m going to have fun,” and let the knockout come naturally. Man, he looked like he wasn’t having fun in the rematch last money, getting worked over by Chukhadzhian, and the Philly crowd was dead quiet.