With his contractual status still in limbo unbeaten, junior middleweight contender Vergil Ortiz's manager believes if it gets resolved soon, they'll have a fight by this Fall with new unified 154 lb. champ Jaron "Boots" Ennis.
The framework is once again in place for a blockbuster junior middleweight unification clash between newly crowned WBA/WBO champion Jaron "Boots" Ennis and unbeaten, WBC interim titleholder Vergil Ortiz.
According to Ortiz's manager Rick Mirigian, the "ball is now in Ennis' court," along with his promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing and their shared broadcast partner DAZN. Of course, there is a very significant detail, which is Ortiz's ongoiing legal feud with his promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Boxing.
Their saga over Ortiz's contract, and right to be a free agent or not, has been going on for six months with a court ordered arbitration hearing scheduled for next week (July 14th).
Still, Mirigian told Boxingscene.com earlier this week that they believe things can happen very quickly to make the Ennis bout a reality, this time.
“We have a pathway and foundational structure now if ‘Boots’ wants to go first,” Ortiz Mirigian told Boxingscene. “Pending [DAZN] making some decisions, this could be done in 48 to 72 hours.
“We have our arbitration date… and that’s not moving, I’m hopeful the principal people involved don’t take much more time and [then] things fall apart.
“It is boxing… and nothing is ever done ‘till it’s done,” Mirigian concluded.
The proposed Ortiz-Ennis fight was to have happened early this year, however, by all accounts and his own admission publicly De La Hoya attempted to re-negotiate the agreed to deal by Ortiz, Ennis/Matchroom and DAZN broadcaster for more money.
Ennis and his side rebuffed that and a legal dispute ensued with Ortiz and Mirigian choosing to hire a lawyer and sue De La Hoya to invalidate their promotional contract.
De La Hoya countersued, and got a court injunction to stop Ortiz from agreeing with Golden Boy's "go ahead." And, that set a distant arbitration date months later into motion, which only damaged the Ortiz-Ennis fight from happening.
Ennis then chose to battle and defeat champ Xander Zayas by a tremendous performance in late June by 7th round TKO and took his two unified junior middleweight titles.
The 27 year old Ortiz,, 24-0 with 22 KOs, is arguably the top fighter without a world title at junior middleweight and one of Golden Boy's top fighers. But, that has been in limbo since Ortiz wiped out Erickson Lubin in the second round last November.
In March, De La Hoya and Golden Boy got Nevada District Judge Cristina Silva to order their dispute into arbitration per the signed contract. And, she issued an injunction preventing Ortiz, the WBC interim 154 lb. champion, from negotiating with outside parties until the case is resolved.
It's been confirmed by both Mirigian and Eric Gomez of Golden Boy in public statements that the two sides have been trying to resolve a new multi-fight deal to end the need for the arbitration hearing.
Ortiz's side wants that to begin with the Ennis fight, immediately, before he chooses to fight someone else. Still, it's now the week before the proceedings and there is still not a deal.
Then, again, as Mirigian said to Boxingscene "it's boxing" and we'll see what gets resolved for Ortiz.
