Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis is ignoring rival Vergil Ortiz Jr. and will instead pursue undisputed status at super-welterweight. After Ortiz stalled on a previously planned fight, Ennis’s camp has put him firmly “on the back burner” to target champions Sebastian Fundora and Josh Kelly.
Ennis became a two-division unified champion last month after destroying Xander Zayas. The fight everyone wanted was against Vergil Ortiz Jr. That blockbuster clash fell apart earlier this year, and now Team Ennis has zero interest in revisiting it. His father and trainer, Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis, made their position crystal clear. He believes Ortiz and his promoter Oscar De La Hoya never truly wanted the smoke.
“We are not even thinking about him now. He made us wait. Boots got in the ring and said, ‘we gotta fight, sign the contract,’ and then all of a sudden, him [Ortiz] and De La Hoya fell out. Now, they are all back together again, so what do you think that was?” Bozy said. He continued, questioning their initial intent: “At the time, they must not have wanted to fight him, but you wanna sound [off on] him? Telling him to come on up in the ring and all of that stuff?”
The message is simple. Ortiz had his chance and blew it.
“I ain’t sitting here talking bad about him but that is the way that it seems to everybody now. So, he is on the back burner,” Bozy Ennis stated, shutting the door on the rivalry for the foreseeable future. Instead, the mission has changed. The goal is total domination. “Boots wants to unify all of the titles, that is undisputed. Once we do that, [we will fight] whoever.”
This puts the division’s other two champions on high alert: WBC titleholder Sebastian Fundora and IBF king Josh Kelly. A fight with Kelly appears to be the most likely path forward, as Fundora is reportedly tied up with a defense against Ermal Hadiibeaj. But there is a major hurdle. Kelly must first defend his belt this Saturday night against Belfast’s Caoimhin Agyarko. If Agyarko pulls off the upset, he will steal Kelly’s place in line for a massive unification payday against Ennis.
