Oscar De La Hoya Reveals When Negotiations for Ennis–Ortiz Will Begin

Golden Boy Promotions head Oscar De La Hoya has explained when talks will begin for a fight between interim WBC Junior Middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz and interim WBA champion Jaron Ennis in the same division.

“Let Hearn and Ennis come and see the best fighter at Junior Middleweight — that’s Vergil Ortiz. I’m just afraid that if Boots sees Vergil live, he’ll back away from this fight.

I want this fight 1,000%. But first — the main thing: Vergil has to win on Saturday. That comes first. I’m not going to distract Vergil from his focus and say, ‘Sign the contract, we’re fighting Ennis.’

Let him win on Saturday, and then we begin negotiations. Is there a verbal agreement? Yes. Eddie wants it, I want it, Vergil wants it, Boots wants it. We’ll start negotiations immediately after his victory, if he wins,” De La Hoya said.

Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs) last fought in early October, knocking out Lima in the 1st round. The next fight for Ortiz (23-0, 21 KOs) will take place on November 8, when he faces Erickson Lubin — and you can view the full matchup statistics from RTFight by clicking the pair listed under this news.