I certainly picked Vergil Ortiz to beat Erickson Lubin on Saturday night, but I didn’t see THAT coming.

I thought that Lubin would use his hand speed and footwork to keep Ortiz turning, and that eventually somewhere in the middle rounds, Ortiz would start landing to the body, slow Lubin down, and stop him down the stretch somewhere between rounds 8-10. That would not be the case, as Ortiz (24-0, 22 ko) made quick work of Lubin (27-3, 19 ko), pinning him to the ropes and beating him unconscious with three brutal overhand rights, the first buzzing Lubin, the second clearly effecting his legs, and the third rendering him unconscious in the second round. The final sequence was only a matter of moments, but initially it looked like Lubin put himself on the ropes purposely and threw back some touch shots as Ortiz started to tee off. That would be his first and final mistake. 

After the fight, Ortiz brought Jaron “Boots” Ennis to the middle of the ring for some very mid trash talk but trash talk that seemed to make a fight between the two American stars a certainty. But there have been reports and quotes from various members of team Ortiz that they are open to making fights with the other top guys at jr. middleweight, be it Fundora, Spence, Zayas or any other top guy. Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn also wants you to know that they have plenty of options, despite the whole night basically being about the two meeting next.

Whether the meeting in the middle of the ring was exclusively theater, or two of the best American fighters will fight while the iron is hot and they are both in their primes is yet to be seen. Time and time again, boxing has teased at big fights only to change its tune moments later once negotiations become real. I’m 50/50 we see this one next, but if it were to be next, and were to be made in the United States, independent of support from the Saudi Public Investment Fund, it would be particularly meaningful in today’s boxing climate. 

My hope is that they don’t fuck around with this one. We have two unbeaten stars at one of the best divisions in boxing who seem interested in fighting each other, and that should be enough. Unfortunately, I’m confident it will not be that simple.

Be that as it may, the fight is potentially the De La Hoya-Mosley of its time, pitting two of the best Americans against each other in a fight for position as the next American pound for pound star, particularly significant as it isn’t’ clear if Terence Crawford will return or if Tank Davis will ever be an actual athlete again. But should it in fact get made, it’s a tough one to call. 

On one hand you have Ennis, who is undeniably one of the most athletically gifted offensive fighters in the game today, coming off a first round stoppage of the overmatched Uisma Lima in his 154 pound debut, preceded by a career best win over top welterweight Eimontas Stanionis in his final appearance at welterweight. But just before that, he had what I would call the worst performance in his career in a rematch with Karen Chukhadzhian, a fight that was more of a formality after the one sided but workmanlike decision for Boots in the first one, but turned into a fight in which Chukhadzhian was the one who made the improvements and was able to win some rounds and catch Boots cleaner than we have seen. He has also been plagued by inactivity, fighting twice a year since 2023 and just once in 2022.

In Ortiz, you have guy who has pursued the toughest available opponents in his time at junior middleweight. After first round knockouts of Frederick Lawson and Thomas Dulome, Ortiz won a close decision over Serhii Bohachuk in a fight of the year contender, followed by a competitive but decisive decision over Israil Madrimov, fresh off a close encounter with Terence Crawford. These are the only decision wins of Ortiz’s career, and the knockout of Lubin served as Ortiz’s third consecutive elite jr. middleweight opponent. 

But prior to the move up in weight, Ortiz had been inactive for a year and a half and fought just once between August 2021 and January 2024. Three cancellations of a fight with Eimantas Stanionis would follow, the first being from an emergency appendectomy for Stanionis, and the second two coming after Ortiz was hospitalized with Rhabdomylisis, a condition often caused by severe weight cuts in which damaged muscle tissue releases proteins and electrolytes into the blood, potentially causing issues withe the heart and kidneys. I don’t think people entirely remember how uncertain Ortiz’s future in boxing was not too long ago. But now at a healthier weight, Ortiz has looked as good as ever, and while he didn’t suffer the same health conditions, Ennis has also talked about moving up in weight for the last several fights. It seems the two young champions are now in the best position to make this fight as the best versions of themselves. 

The time is now.