The negotiations began ever so subtly Saturday night in the immediate aftermath of Vergil Ortiz’s scintillating second-round knockout of Erickson Lubin.

Oscar De La Hoya, Ortiz’s promoter, proudly touted his undefeated knockout artist following an impressive demolition of one of boxing’s best junior middleweights at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. “The Golden Boy” spoke at times as if it is a foregone conclusion that Ortiz (24-0, 22 KOs) and Jaron “Boots” Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs, 1 NC) will finally fight next in one of boxing’s most anticipated matchups.

DAZN executives would prefer it if Ennis and Ortiz meet in a pay-per-view main event tentatively slated for February 28 in Las Vegas. Ennis, 28, and Ortiz, 27, did their part to unofficially start the promotion by talking trash as they stood face to face in the ring.

De La Hoya eventually slipped in the word “if,” however, and emphasized that Ennis-Ortiz will occur only if the terms of their agreement favor Ortiz. The retired six-division champion claimed Ortiz’s status as “the man” and “the champion” justifies the approach he apparently plans to take in talks with Eddie Hearn, whose Matchroom Boxing promotes Ennis.

“The one thing about the Boots Ennis fight, yeah, we’ll discuss it – absolutely,” De La Hoya stated during the post-fight press conference. “And I will get the best terms, as long as they’re favorable to us, because [Ortiz] is the man. They are chasing him. Vergil Ortiz is the champion, is the guy who everybody wants to beat. And he has a target on his back. So, it’s my job to get him the best deal possible.

“So, this fight will happen, yeah, in ‘The Mecca of Boxing,’ Las Vegas, if we come to terms. And it’ll be the biggest fight in recent history. So, yeah, are we looking forward to that? Absolutely. Is Vergil looking forward to it? He just wants to fight the best, that’s it.”

Ortiz owns the WBC interim junior middleweight title, whereas Ennis holds the WBA interim 154-pound title. Neither fighter is considered a legitimate champion.

The Ring ranks Ortiz first in its top 10, though, six spots atop Ennis, who entered at No. 7 following his first-round knockout of overmatched Uisma Lima (14-2, 10 KOs) on October 11 in Ennis’ hometown of Philadelphia. Ortiz also took out a more formidable, proven opponent in the fifth-ranked Lubin (27-3, 19 KOs).

Hearn, of course, can counter with the fact that Ennis held The Ring, IBF and WBA welterweight titles before he determined late in the spring that he couldn’t safely make the 147-pound limit anymore.

Before he set the tone for what figure to be tense negotiations, De La Hoya half-jokingly wondered whether Ennis will still want to oppose Ortiz after watching the Grand Prairie, Texas native beat Lubin so quickly.

“I’m actually skeptical now,” De La Hoya said. “I’m actually skeptical because – and I told Eddie and Boots, ‘Do not come and watch Vergil live, because you’re gonna be afraid of what you see.’ So, we’ll see. I mean, I’m gonna sit down with Eddie Hearn and we obviously have the upper hand because [Ortiz is] the better man, and see if we can come to terms, which I’m sure we will. But I told these guys, ‘Don’t be there live, because this guy’s a monster and you’re gonna be afraid and you’re probably gonna wanna take another tuneup fight.’

“But hopefully that’s not the case. Hopefully, Eddie Hearn calls us, Boots’ promoter, and we can come to favorable terms for Vergil and get him what he wants, and we will make the super fight happen. That’s the bottom line. I like promoting huge fights. I love promoting great fighters. And, you know, I think this is a fight that the whole world would wanna watch.”