Vergil Ortiz Jr’s manager, Rick Mirigian, has poured cold water on reports that they are eyeing a fight with Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis on February 22nd in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mirigian says he wants to Errol Spence or Keith Thurman of Vergil Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) of Cowboys Stadium in Texas. However, he does not stop fighting between Vergil Jr. and Boots or Terence Crawford if “someone can” that fight.
Spence and Thurman are both considered washed up fights at this point. Thurman hasn’t fought in nearly three years, and would be a bad choice for Vergil Jr. to defend his interim WBC 154-lb belt.
Ennis Is Not An Option For Vergil Jr
Fans should have known better than to believe that Ortiz Jr. he will risk his career fighting Jaron Ennis and possibly lose to him. That would be a big step up in class for Vergil, who looked like he was still struggling with the numbers system in his last fight at 154.
It would be His Excellency Turki Alalshikh. It is not known whether he would be interested in financing a fight between Ortiz and WBC junior middleweight champion Boot or Crawford. There is no chance that Crawford would agree to fight Vergil Jr. because he’s unknown to casual boxing fans, and it won’t bring in a ton of PPV buys. Only die-hard boxing fans know who Vergil Jr. is, and many of them see him as flawed, especially after his last fight.
It’s clear why Mirigian wants 35-year-old ‘One Time’ Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) to fight Vergil Ortiz Jr. fight. That would be a decisive victory for Vergil, who looked awful in his last fight against Serhii Bohachuk.
Thurman has fought just once in the past five years, and that was against Mario Barrios. The former welterweight champion, Thurman, had his career interrupted by a lack of performance after earning good money from his fights with Manny Pacquiao and Danny Garcia.
Vergil Jr’s most controversial decision of 12 rounds wins Serhii Bohachuk on August 10, this is not a good time for Turki to make a fight between himself and Ennis or Crawford. If Vergil wants to fight Spence if he wins against the WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion, Sebastian Fundora, that’s one thing.
We are not looking at Boots, Ortiz or anyone in the Top 5 working for a BIG fight and if an offer comes we will go from there. I think Ortiz/Spence at Cowboy Stadium is the biggest fight in Texas history but if someone can afford Ortiz/Boots or Ortiz/Crawford then…
– Rick Mirigian (@RGMROMO) October 25, 2024
We would love that, Vergil has been asking for that fight for years and Thurman wouldn’t do it but if Thurman wants that fight it will be done as soon as TOMORROW……
– Rick Mirigian (@RGMROMO) October 25, 2024
