Vergil Ortiz vs. Jaron Ennis won’t be happening next.
It looked like they were set to meet on the upcoming Riyadh Season event in Saudi Arabia in February, with Ennis stepping up from 147lbs to challenge Ortiz for his WBC interim super-welterweight title.
The talks have collapsed though, with the Ennis camp stating that they would have had to vacate the IBF welterweight title in order to go ahead with the bout, something they were seemingly unwilling to do at this stage.
That claim has been disputed by some, and Ortiz has taken to social media to say that it wasn’t down to him why the fight didn’t happen.
“I’ve always said I’ll fight anybody and I remained true to my word. Every single person that I have been offered to fight I said yes. It takes 2 to tango in boxing, so if I’m not in that ring fighting someone, know it’s not my fault! Time for some of you guys to stop saying I’m ducking and don’t wanna fight because that’s not the case this time and never was.”
With Ortiz now seemingly looking for a new opponent for that February card, one fighter has revealed that he has agreed to the bout.
That man is Xander Zayas, the 20-0 unbeaten Puerto Rican star who is currently ranked number one with the WBO, who says it didn’t take him long to accept the fight.
“They gave me an hour to say yes. I said yes in one minute.”
Confirmation on if the Ortiz vs. Zayas fight will take place should be revealed soon, with an official announcement on the card expected imminently.
