When Vergil Ortiz and Erickson Lubin swap leather in Forth Worth, Texas, this weekend, it will be a clash of two of the best fighters at junior middleweight. And the funny thing about the 154-pound division is, though it’s considered one of boxing’s newer divisions and not one of its “original eight,” there is still more than 60 years of history to it, and some of the sport’s greatest fighters during that time held a title there.

Emile Griffith, Ray Leonard, Wilfred Benítez, Roberto Durán, Thomas Hearns, Mike McCallum, Pernell Whitaker, Terry Norris, Félix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, Canelo Álvarez, Miguel Cotto and Floyd Mayweather were all pound-for-pound level fighters and junior middleweight champions at some point.

Interestingly, almost all of the named fighters held a title during a time when there was a clear or dominant middleweight champion who either kept them from moving up in weight or made any attempts to do so unsuccessful. Like jumps from 140 to 147 pounds, the leap from junior middleweight to middleweight is historically difficult to pull off. That might still be the case with either Ortiz or Lubin, but both seem comfortable at 154 and ready to emerge as leaders in an exciting and wide-open division.

Halfway through the 2020s, Jermell Charlo, junior middleweight’s erstwhile ruler, is nowhere to be found. While he was somewhat inactive at one fight a year, he spent 2020-22 collecting all four of the division’s major belts. He moved up two divisions for a crack at Álvarez, then the undisputed super middleweight champ, offered up a weird, noncommittal performance en route to losing a decision and all but fled the sport.

The relative vacuum of power with Charlo absent means that, when counting interim titles, there are six belts to go around at junior middleweight. Ortiz (23-0, 21 KOs) is one such interim champion, and his momentum has only been halted by a serious health scare. Ortiz, 27, is in his physical prime, and though he isn’t the kind of fighter who plans too far ahead, he’s been calling for a tangle with Jaron “Boots” Ennis, the division’s other interim champ and perhaps the most talented of the bunch.

If it weren’t for his battle with rhabdomyolysis in 2022, Ortiz would likely be further along in his quest to conquer a division. After an excellent amateur career, the Dallas, Texas, fighter turned professional the summer after graduating high school and quickly appeared on Álvarez's undercard months into his career. In fact, about half of his pro fights have been against either ranked contenders or recognizable names.

“He’s one of those guys who doesn’t say much but works out very hard and is extremely focused,” Ortiz’s former trainer, Joel Díaz, said in 2017.

Ortiz has also been guided to this moment, given the promotional and financial opportunities to succeed since very early in his career.

It might be easy to conclude, then, that this is a crossroads bout and that Lubin (27-2, 19 KOs) is the veteran on the outs. Losses always stand out when matched against unbeaten records. He’s also older than Ortiz and turned pro earlier.

The reality is Lubin’s credentials are more similar to Ortiz’s than not. He's only 30. Lubin was also a top-shelf amateur who won several high profile tournaments, and the two losses came in an early shocker against Charlo and in a “Fight of the Year” candidate with Sebastian Fundora. Lubin wants to avenge the Fundora loss after ruining any potential plans for an Ennis-Ortiz clash, and he hasn’t been an idle fighter.

Apart from retooling his team and working in the gym, Lubin follows boxing and watches everything he can, old and new.

“I’m a student of the game,” Lubin said in a 2022 interview. “[My favorite fighters to watch are] Sugar Ray Leonard, Meldrick Taylor, Floyd Mayweather. Mike Tyson, Tyson Fury, Canelo, Terence Crawford.”

Ortiz and Lubin have also done more work to clean out the junior middleweight division than most of its champions. Three of Lubin’s last four opponents have been undefeated and he’s battled toward the top of the heap for a decade. Ortiz mowed through all of his opponents until his two most recent: hard-headed battlers Serhii Bohachuk and Israil Madrimov.

Unfortunately for Ortiz and Lubin, the quality of their opposition won’t be enough to make the history stick. As tedious as it can be to play sanctioning organization games, winning belts and consolidating them is the most straightforward path toward becoming more than just one of six champions in a division.

It’s almost a shame to pit two of boxing’s game and willing fighters against one another in a situation where, both being good punchers and ready to throw, one is likely to lose badly. The alphabet organizations’ follies allow for far too many champions in a given division, though, and the scattered entities and interest mean quick solutions are rare. Fighters who show no fear in the ring or in matchmaking are rare, too.

There’s a chance for either Ortiz or Lubin to add their names to the list of great and respected fighters who left some piece of themselves at junior middleweight. Looking at the division’s landscape, the road will be hard, but not impossible.