If he isn't fighting, Jaron Ennis is busy doing one of two things. He’s either working on his craft with his father by his side or he’s busy calling out an upper-echelon fighter.
For the most part, elite-level opponents openly ignored him. However, before Eimantas Stanionis answered the call, Vergil Ortiz anxiously raised his hand and told Ennis to bring it on.
Ortiz, 27, doesn’t campaign in the same weight class as Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) anymore but there appeared to be at least parameters of a deal in place. But while Ortiz was all for it, Ennis wasn't willing to leave the welterweight division without finishing what he started. For the Philly star, he dreamed of becoming an undisputed champion. Moving up to fight Ortiz now would push him away from that goal.
Although his reasoning may seem logical to some, Oscar De La Hoya, Ortiz’s promoter, isn’t buying it. The way he sees it, Ennis made tons of excuses and simply reneged on his promise.
“We called him out, we had a fight and then they backtracked,” said De La Hoya to a group of reporters.
You know how the saying goes, the show must go on.
Since things fell apart at the negotiating table, Ortiz (23-0, 21 KOs) went on to grab arguably the most impressive win of his career, a close decision over former champ, Israil Madrimov. Ennis, on the other hand, is now two titles away from completing the undisputed puzzle. If he does, or if the rest of his fellow champions refuse to fight him, he’ll ditch his belts and stomp around in Ortiz’s division.
Still, even if he decides to move up in weight, De La Hoya won’t be holding his breath that a matchup between them will actually take place.
“We all know Boots doesn’t want to fight Vergil.”