Vergil Ortiz says Philly’s Jaron Ennis looked ‘underwhelming’ and hopes to fight him in February

Vergil Ortiz’ airplane seat turned into a bed but that didn’t help the boxer this week as he flew from Texas to London to Saudi Arabia.

“I can’t sleep on planes,” Ortiz said. “My sleep schedule is messed up.”

Ortiz can consider this trip a trial run as he expects to be back in Saudi Arabia in February for a fight against Jaron “Boots” Ennis, the undefeated boxer from Philadelphia and the city’s lone world champion.

Ennis defended his IBF welterweight title — a belt he would vacate to vie for Ortiz’ 154-pound crown — last week at the Wells Fargo Center but his unanimous decision over Karen Chukhadzhian was uninspiring. Ennis’ father said his son seemed bored. Ortiz, scouting from home, wasn’t impressed.

» READ MORE: Jaron Ennis stays undefeated and ponders moving up for a ‘brilliant fight’ vs. Vergil Ortiz

“I think we all think the same thing. It was just an underwhelming performance,” said the undefeated Ortiz, who has recorded all but one of his 22 wins by knockout. “I wasn’t in the ring so I can’t tell you what was going through his mind but I think he has a lot of pressure.

“Being in his hometown and everyone expected a knockout. His corner telling him, ‘How come we haven’t knocked him out yet?’ He just focused on his offense instead of his defense. I think that’s the first time I’ve seen him really get hit consistently with big shots.”

Ortiz, 26, is in Saudi Arabia to work as a broadcaster for Saturday’s card on DAZN headlined by the cruiserweight title unification fight between Gilberto Ramirez (46-1, 30 KOs) and Chris Billam-Smith (20-1, 13 KOs).

Oscar De La Hoya, Ortiz’ promoter, and Eddie Hearn, Ennis’ promoter, said they are in talks to have Ortiz and Ennis meet on Feb. 22. Last week, Hearn called it a “brilliant fight” but De La Hoya said this week that Hearn was scared to match-up the fighters and said Ennis looked like an amateur against Chukhadzhian.

“I don’t think he looked that great,” Ortiz said. “But that doesn’t take that much away from him as a fighter. Just because you have a bad night as a fighter doesn’t mean anything. Hopefully it happens in February.”

A day before Ennis’ last fight, his father and trainer, Bozy, said he was told Ortiz had rejected a fight with Ennis. Ortiz said that never happened.

“That was just a complete lie,” Ortiz said. “Like, ‘What are you talking about?’ It was a lie that could be disproven so easily. Like, ‘OK. Who did you talk to?’ ‘We talked to that guy.’ ‘Is that true?’ ‘No. It isn’t true.’ Why lie about something that can be disproven so easily?”

Ennis planned to unify the 147-pound division but Hearn struggled to align the Germantown native against other welterweight champions. So Ennis instead seems ready to move to junior middleweight, a weight class that features more profile opponents than welterweight. A fight with Ortiz would easily be both the highest-profile bout for Ennis and the steepest challenge.

Ortiz wasn’t impressed with the performance he watched on TV but he expects a better showing by Ennis if they face off in February. First, they’ll both have to adjust their sleep patterns.

“He’s a dangerous fighter,” Ortiz said. “Honestly, my opinion on him hasn’t really changed. I know he’s a dangerous fighter. I know he’s a good fighter.”