Jaron Ennis and promoter Eddie Hearn have been accused of swerving the “biggest fight” at 154lbs in favour of a unification match with Josh Kelly.
‘Boots’ became a two-division unified champion in June, dethroning Xander Zayas with a seventh-round stoppage for the WBO and WBA world titles.
Since then, the 29-year-old has expressed an interest in facing his fellow belt-holders, including Sebastian Fundora, who will defend his WBC title against mandatory challenger Ermal Hadribeaj on October 17.
IBF champion Kelly has therefore emerged as a likely opponent for Ennis, with the two Matchroom fighters negotiating a deal to collide later this year.
The Brit claimed his super-welterweight strap by dethroning Bakhram Murtazaliev in January, before making a successful yet hard-fought defence against Caoimhin Agyarko last month.
But while Kelly represents an entirely logical choice of opponent, Boots has nonetheless been accused by trainer Robert Garcia of avoiding a clash with Vergil Ortiz Jr.
The two Americans were in negotiations to lock horns earlier this year, only for Ortiz to engage in a legal dispute with promoter Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy.
With these issues now resolved, though, Garcia has told Fight Hub TV that he was hoping to revisit the Ennis opportunity.
“We were pushing for the fight against Boots. Oscar [De La Hoya] talked about it and every time they asked me, ‘What’s your opinion?’ I always said: Let’s go to Boots right away.
“But it seems like [Team Ennis] changed their mind. They wanna unify. But if you wanna give the fans the best fight, it doesn’t even have to be a championship fight.
“I think Boots vs Vergil is the biggest fight at 154[lbs]. So if Boots is using that excuse [of chasing unifications], and Eddie Hearn is also using that excuse, that means you’re trying to avoid a fight with Vergil.”
With Ennis pursuing the Kelly fight, Ortiz must target an alternative opponent for his first outing since stopping Erickson Lubin in two rounds last November, with reports suggesting he may make the move up to middleweight.
