Vergil Ortiz reiterated Saturday night that he wants, at long last, to fight Jaron “Boots” Ennis next.

The WBC interim super welterweight champion clarified, though, that he is willing to take other marketable, meaningful fights if their promoters can’t come to an agreement for them to meet early in 2026. Ortiz mentioned the most accomplished opponent of all, Terence Crawford, as an alternative to Ennis, whom DAZN executives expect Ortiz to face February 28 in Las Vegas.

The Grand Prairie, Texas native and his manager, Rick Mirigian, also identified the former welterweight champion Crawford dominated as a potential opponent once Ortiz knocked out Erickson Lubin in the second round at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

“I’m here to fight the best,” Ortiz said during his post-fight press conference. “I don’t care who it is. It can be Boots next, it can be [Errol] Spence next, it could be Crawford next if he’s still willing to do it, because, you know, that’s a fight that I’ve been calling for for a while. I think that’s a great fight to make happen still. And we’re just gonna keep doing what I do best, you know, and that’s just be me.”

Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs), No. 1 on The Ring’s pound-for-pound list, made it clear after he beat Canelo Alvarez to become undisputed 168-pound champion September 13 in Las Vegas that he won’t return to the junior middleweight limit of 154.

Ortiz (24-0, 22 KOs) holds the WBC interim 154-pound crown and is The Ring’s No. 1 contender for a vacant junior middleweight title. The 27-year-old Ortiz didn’t say whether he would move up in weight to challenge Crawford.

Mirigian, meanwhile, suggested through his Instagram account Sunday that Ortiz could oppose Spence next in an all-Texas clash at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Ortiz had hoped to face Spence, of DeSoto, Texas, at that enormous venue before Crawford dropped Spence three times and won their welterweight title unification bout by ninth-round technical knockout in July 2023 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Spence (28-1, 22 KOs), a former IBF/WBA/WBC 147-pound champ, hasn’t fought since Crawford defeated him.

“I think Ortiz [versus] Spence at Cowboy Stadium (biggest all Texas matchup in history),” Mirigian wrote, “and [Jermell] Charlo vs. Boots as co-main event and the winners fight each other just might be [fire emoji]. (Makes sense, Charlo and Boots both turned Ortiz down).”

Mirigian added that he’d need the “blessings” of Ortiz’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, and Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez before they could pivot toward Spence. DAZN executives, who fund most of Golden Boy’s business through their exclusive streaming partnership, have told De La Hoya and Gomez that they want Ortiz to face Ennis next.

Charlo, a former undisputed junior middleweight champ, hasn’t fought in more than two years, either. Houston’s Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs) lost a lopsided unanimous decision to Alvarez in September 2023 at T-Mobile Arena, where they fought for The Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 168-pound titles Mexico’s Alvarez lost to Crawford.

Charlo and Spence sat ringside Saturday night to watch Ortiz beat Lubin (27-3, 19 KOs), The Ring’s fifth-rated 154-pound contender. Footage of Ennis and Charlo talking and eventually shaking hands circulated on social media Saturday night.

“I was going at it with Charlo,” Ennis told The Ring. “I told Charlo stay by his phone, just in case.”