WHILE Vergil Ortiz Jr seemingly remains the preferred option, Jaron Ennis could equally secure himself a world title shot against WBA super-welterweight champion Abass Baraou.
‘Boots’ got off to a blistering start to life at 154lbs after dismantling Uisma Lima, a vastly overmatched opponent, inside the opening round of their encounter last week.
Prior to that, Ennis, 35-0 (31 KOs), had unified the welterweight division – coming away with the IBF and WBA world titles – following a sixth-round stoppage victory over Eimantas Stanionis in April.
Now looking to build a glittering legacy for himself up at super-welterweight, the 28-year-old has effectively set his sights on all of the world champions, including Sebastian Fundora, Bakhram Murtazaliev, Xander Zayas and Baraou, while also maintaining his desire to face Ortiz, 23-0 (21 KOs).
Their mouth-watering matchup has been spoken about for quite some time, and with the pair now campaigning in the same division, it would only make sense for them to duke it out in the near future.
That said, Ortiz must first take care of business against Erickson Lubin, who he will face on November 8, after outpointing Israil Madrimov and Serhii Bohachuk in his last two outings.
According to Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, though, Ennis has already signed a deal to face his US rival, while Ortiz, on the other hand, is still yet to put pen to paper.
Nevertheless, Matchroom Boxing CEO Frank Smith remains confident that, should he come through his assignment against Lubin next month, the path towards a fight between Ortiz and Ennis will all of a sudden become far more straightforward.
“The Vergil Ortiz fight has been spoken about a lot, and Jaron Ennis has already signed for it, so hopefully we can see that fight happen,” Smith told Boxing News.
“[Ortiz has] obviously got his fight against Lubin [to focus on], but once that’s done, I’m confident that we’ll see [the Ennis fight].”
At the same time, with Ennis becoming the WBA ‘interim’ champion earlier this month, the sanctioning body’s full champion, Baraou, 17-1 (9 KOs), has also been discussed as a possible option.
Baraou claimed the ‘interim’ belt with a points victory over Yoenis Tellez in August, but was later upgraded to full champion after Terence Crawford, who previously held the WBA world title at 154lbs, dethroned Canelo Alvarez to become the undisputed super-middleweight king last month.
“I also spoke with Abass’ team the other day,” Smith continued. “That’s an opportunity that could be there. But it’s about looking at the world title fights while also looking at the fights that make the most commercial sense.
“So Vergil Ortiz is right up there, and Xander Zayas is another fight that could be huge.”
