Vergil Ortiz needed only one flush punch Saturday night to knock out Erickson Lubin and set the stage for the junior middleweight match most of the boxing world wants to see, against Jaron Ennis.
Ortiz (24-0, 22 KOs) caught Lubin with a right hand that left him out on his feet and forced referee James Green to step between them and end their scheduled 12-rounder just 1:30 into the second round. Green wrapped his arms around Lubin, who was against the ropes, and prevented him from falling to the canvas after Ortiz unloaded on him.
Ortiz retained his WBC interim 154-pound crown and ensured his place in a long-awaited showdown with rival Jaron “Boots” Ennis, who watched their fight from ringside at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
“There were so many people saying, oh, I’m gonna get out-classed, oh, he’s gonna knock me out,” Ortiz told DAZN’s Chris Mannix in the ring. “And look, he’s a great fighter, but there’s levels. … It motivated me a lot. You know, we’re ready for the best. We wanna fight the best. Boots (Ennis), come over here.”
Philadelphia’s Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs, 1 NC) and Ortiz stood face to face and immediately committed to fighting each other next. Contracts have yet to be signed, but DAZN has set aside February 28 as the preferred date for Ortiz and Ennis to square off in a pay-per-view main event in Las Vegas.
Ortiz, 27, couldn’t have built more momentum toward his career-defining fight versus Ennis.
The Ring’s No. 1 contender in the 154-pound division improved to 5-0 since he moved up from welterweight. He beat top contenders Serhii Bohachuk and Israil Madrimov in his previous two fights.
Lubin (27-3, 19 KOs), of Orlando, Florida, is ranked fifth in The Ring’s junior middleweight top 10. Madrimov is ranked fourth. Bohachuk was listed in it before he lost on points to Brandon Adams in their 10-round rematch September 13 in Las Vegas.
Lubin, 30, lost by knockout or technical knockout for the third time in 12 years as a pro.
Sebastian Fundora stopped him following nine action-packed rounds in April 2022. Lubin got up from a second-round knockdown to floor Fundora in the seventh, but Kevin Cunningham, Lubin’s former trainer, stopped their bout before the 10th round because his face was severely swollen.
Jermell Charlo knocked out Lubin with a single right hand in the first round of their October 2017 fight for the WBC super welterweight title held at that time.
