Roy Jones Jr. Picks Between Ortiz And Ennis – ‘Tough To Call’
Roy Jones Jr. has given his take on a prospective fight between Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Jaron Ennis.
Reports indicate that formal negotiations have started for a junior-middleweight clash. The initial talks allegedly lasted six hours on December 9. Both sides laid out their “positions and needs” and explored “steps to accelerate this… over the next 10 days.”
The 27-year-old Ortiz is fresh off a second-round knockout of Erickson Lubin in November to retain his WBC Interim Junior Middleweight Title. Ennis, who had secured his own first-round knockout over Uisma Lima just a month prior, was ringside. Ortiz and Ennis then faced off in the ring, with a view to making this fight next.
The financial split is emerging as the main point of contention. Ortiz’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, said Ortiz is the A-side. The argument in Ortiz’s favor centers on his stronger resume, which includes victories over Lubin, ex-WBA 154-pound champion Israil Madrimov, and former WBC interim champion Serhii Bohachuk. With the clock ticking on the 10-day acceleration timeline, time is running out to agree a deal. Jones was struggling to choose a winner.
Jones Reacts
“Tough fight to call. This is why boxing is good. It’s a 50-50 fight. Ortiz is peaking right now. He’s very hard to beat right now. He’s a very strong guy and a durable guy. Ennis might have the edge in skills, but as we know, hard work gives skills a hard time if the skills don’t have any heart in it. He’s got to make sure that he has that and that’s the only thing we haven’t seen out of Ennis yet.
“We haven’t seen him pushed to the brink of does he have a championship quality heart, and that’s what Ortiz is going to bring out of him. “We haven’t seen anybody push Ortiz where he has to work every round. Can he take what he has and stretch it out over 12 rounds. Having the questions that we have about both of them, the other one has the answer for it, and that’s why we need to see it now,” Jones said
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