JUNIOR MIDDLE GROUND
risky matchup against Israil Madrimov, grinding out a unanimous decision victory against an opponent who worked to suppress Ortiz’s trademark torrid output as much as possible. And so here we are, with both Ennis and Ortiz being called the Future of Boxing. But there’s an obvious problem with two men sharing a singular label. Which is to say that at the end of the day, it was Ennis vs. Ortiz that we really hoped for. That day appears to be looming. Timing, physical changes and opponent availability weren’t all on their sides at 147. According to Ring Magazine’s Mike Coppinger, Ennis only temporarily turned down a bout against Ortiz earlier this year, preferring to test the waters at junior middleweight first. Ennis barely dipped his toe in at 154 before he proved that he had no use for water wings anymore. Uisma Lima, a respectable contender but a 30-to-1 underdog against Boots, couldn’t make it out of the first round after being
utterly overwhelmed by the speed and power of the Philadelphia phenom. After the fight, Ennis drove home a few miles from the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia and rested up before flying to Fort Worth, Texas, to sit ringside at Ortiz’s bout against Erickson Lubin. It didn’t take much longer for Ortiz to take care of his business. Midway through the second round of the bout, Ortiz’s power had already rattled Lubin, who found himself with his back against the ropes against one of the sport’s most thunderous offensive practitioners. Even with Lubin’s gloves glued to his face, the sheer force of Ortiz’s blows rendered him unconscious on his feet. There is historical precedence for can’t-miss stars who either didn’t or couldn’t have their biggest moments at 147 but eventually found them at 154. Wilfred Benitez, who lurked in the shadow of Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns at 147, found his greatest nights at junior
middleweight after losing to Leonard at 147. He outpointed Roberto Duran in an oft-overlooked classic, and produced perhaps the knockout of the decade over Maurice Hope. Mike McCallum found himself in a similar but even more sequestered position relative to The Four Kings, but found the brightest lights at 154 against Julian Jackson and Donald Curry, producing sensational knockouts against both. It may sound absurd to compare Ennis and Ortiz to Hall of Famers when their own resumes don’t contain any future Hall of Famers. However, times and industry demands have changed, and the two young headliners have, through no fault of their own, not been given adequate opportunity to fully validate those gaudy late-2010s scouting reports.
Boots was punch-perfect against Stanionis, stopping him in six.
Ortiz was a step ahead of Israil Madrimov and won wide on points.
Until now. Moments after Ortiz had rendered Lubin unconscious, the DAZN cameras panned to Ennis seated a few feet away from the ropes. Ennis, in sunglasses, a hoodie and at least one fight purse’s worth of jewelry, simply pointed to his watch and mouthed the words “it’s that time.” Before long, they were face- to-face inside the ring with DAZN’s Chris Mannix and his microphone between them. “I think this is the fight that has to happen, man,” Ortiz said to Ennis. “I think this is it.” The two went back and forth, volleying allegations of the other “talking shit” after each alleging in the media that the other was ducking them. The same conversations fans once had about the big names avoiding them were now directed toward them – a sign that they’d become the big names they aspired to be. “We started talking after you guys started talking,” said Ortiz. “It’s retaliation. It’s retaliation.”
“It don’t matter,” Ennis said. “The time is now. It’s that time to see this money, and let’s make this fight happen. You a great fighter, you looked tremendous, but I’m gonna show the world I’m the best in the world.” It’s an era-defining fight between two of the young, charismatic, powerful stars in the sport. Ennis and Ortiz are two of the most viscerally entertaining fighters in boxing. If you’re a boxing hardcore, you certainly know what you’re looking at when you watch them in the ring. But even if you aren’t, it’s clear that there’s something different about these two. The way Ennis seems to glide and dance in the ring, the way his punches whiz and blur from different angles, his resplendent ring gear sparkling and flowing. Or the way Ortiz gallops and tracks down even the most fleet of foot opponent, like a horror movie villain that is always exactly where you don’t want them to be, around every corner you turn, before unleashing his frenzied, concussive combinations.
It would be two fighters with video game-like attributes meeting at the absolute peak of their powers, a dream fight for the sport, and one that even those who like to peer into the boxing snow globe only occasionally will undoubtedly enjoy. Those who win these types of fights or perform valiantly in them entrench themselves as the legends of their particular era. The expectation that Ennis and Ortiz would become that was placed upon them at first by themselves, then by their managers and promoters, and finally by the industry and its broadcasters. As noted fight fan Mark Twain supposedly once said, “Today’s burdens can strengthen you for tomorrow.” The burden of proof has been theirs to litigate for the last seven years, and there is only one reasonable doubt left.
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