Ennis vs. Ortiz Jr.: Hopkins predicts 2025 clash despite doubts

Golden Boy promoter Bernard Hopkins guarantees that Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis in 2025 will fight. He feels that “greed” and “politics” will not prevent that game from happening next year. Fans are convinced that Ennis is Vergil Jr. dodged because he lost his conference after his poor performance in his rematch against Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9.

(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)

Avoiding Ennis Ortiz Jr.?

If it’s not fear on Boots’ part because he didn’t agree to fight Ortiz, he should move up to 154 because nothing is going to happen for him staying at 147. He says he is staying at welterweight because he wants Eddie Hearn to schedule the fights against the champions.

It doesn’t happen, and he doesn’t seem to see things for what they are. Hearn has failed and will continue to fail to set up the fights Ennis needs against the other champions. Unless Turki Alalshikh helps out, Hearn won’t produce the money needed to stage the unification fights Boots is calling for.

Winning those belts won’t make Ennis more popular because fans don’t know who the champions are at 147. The three champions Boots must fight to become uncontested are total unknowns, and he has nothing to gain by beating them.

This is why he would be better off moving up to 154 and Vergil Jr. for his interim WBC title. That is of course if the reason he doesn’t fight him is fear, which could be the real reason.

Lost to Ortiz Jr. would ruin Ennis’ careerr, sabotaging the revenue stream that poured in without ever being tested against A-level or elite-level fighters. He may just be a hype job, which is why he looked so weak in his two fights against Karen Chukhadzhian and in his matches against David Avanesyan and Roiman Villa.

Money and politics had nothing to do with the fight that did not take place on February 22nd. Boots (33-0, 29 KOs) and WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) doesn’t fight. Ennis, 27, has decided against moving up to 154 as he wants to stay at 147 to continue his tireless quest to unify the welterweight division.

Ennis just doesn’t seem to understand. He won’t be able to get the fights he needs at 147 because the champions don’t want to lose their belts without being paid an enormous amount of money. Hopkins’ optimistic outlook for a fight next year between Ennis and Ortiz Jr. is naive, and he doesn’t see the real problem—money or lack of it.

“Whether it was Boots’ team or Golden Boy, that battle will be demanded by the fans, and the money and the opportunity will present themselves. They won’t be able to say no,” Bernard Hopkins told Fighthpe about a fight between Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr. “The fight will take place (in 2025).

“The timing was not right for each side. They still have to cross paths with each other before they go to the next level,” Hopkins said of Ortiz and Ennis. “I guarantee you fights that are supposed to happen will happen.”

Hearn’s role and challenges

Some fans believe Boots is obsessed with unifying the 147-lb division. He doesn’t understand that his promoter, Eddie Hearn, can’t set up fights against the other champions. If Ennis’ name was Anthony Joshua, Hearn would have better luck getting the fight because he would produce the money to get the fights AJ demands.

Boots is no Joshua in terms of popularity, and the unification fights he’s asking for probably won’t happen in 2025, 2026 or 2027. He will age and have nothing to show for the prized belts he is chasing.