(Golden Boy / Cris Esqueda)
By claiming victory this week in a Nevada court in its case with unbeaten junior-middleweight Vergil Ortiz Jnr, Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions is empowered to both scrap an anticipated showdown with Jaron “Boots” Ennis and bench Ortiz until September or beyond.
Ortiz, 24-0 (22 KOs), remained resolute about his future, despite the recent legal setback.
“Although the judge didn’t see it our way and the fight is blocked for now, my team and I will be moving on to arbitration and to the court appeal. My time with [Golden Boy] is done. I am confident that my right to move on to other opportunities will be upheld,” wrote Ortiz Wednesday afternoon on social media.
In conversations with a handful of individuals connected to – and with knowledge of – the case, the scenario of Ortiz being put on ice until the fall is unlikely.
The expectation within the Ortiz camp that includes his manager Rick Mirigian and attorney Gregory Smith is that Texas’ WBC interim 154lbs champion Ortiz would win in arbitration, where Nevada judge Cristina Silva sent the case Tuesday.
“I’d be shocked if it doesn’t settle out with such a big fight on the horizon, where everyone makes money,” boxing industry attorney Kurt Emhoff told BoxingScene Wednesday. “Generally, these cases all settle out when there’s incentive for both sides to get it done.”
Emhoff is not involved in the case, but he knows boxing history is littered with cases – including De La Hoya’s own separation from Top Rank/Bob Arum and Canelo Alvarez’s parting with De La Hoya – where legal precedent doesn’t intend to stop a fighter from earning purse money.
That would compel Golden Boy to strike a deal to bring Ortiz back to the ring, the Ortiz side reasons.
In its January 16 lawsuit against Golden Boy, Ortiz’s team presented four prongs it believes rise to the level of breaching the contract.
In a three-year extension that took effect in August 2024, Ortiz’s team contends the contract stipulates that at least one alternative to a fight offer should be pursued.
Upon Ortiz stopping Erickson Lubin in his native Texas in November, De La Hoya immediately let it be known that Ortiz was the clear “A-side” of the bout with recently unified welterweight champion Ennis, 35-0 (31 KOs), even though Ortiz has never worn a non-interim world-title strap.
De La Hoya proceeded to declare Ortiz deserved a 60-40 percentage split in his…
2026-03-05 02:09:02
