The Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez vs. Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez doubleheader is reportedly possible for early 2025, on February 22nd, in a Riyadh Season event in Saudi Arabia.
WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Jr’s trainer, Robert Garcia, told Boxingscene about a possible doubleheader. It would be an interesting fight card.
Some fans might be critical about Bam Rodriguez fighting the 37-year-old Chocolatito Gonzalez (54-4, 42 KOs) because this highly popular legend is well past his prime, nearing 38, and has lost two out of his last four fights.
The 24-year-old Bam Rodriguez is much younger than Chocolatito, and there’s a mismatch in where the two fighters are at this point in their careers. Bam has already beaten a lot of older fighters, and it would be sad to see him using Chocolatito as a stepping stone.
Will Ennis Stay at 154?
If it does happen, it would be interesting to see if Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) chooses to stay at 154 or if this is just a one-off. He says he wants to unify the welterweight division by capturing all four belts, but it doesn’t look like that will happen without the Saudis’ help in luring the other champions to fight him.
If Ennis chooses to stay at 154 if he successfully defeats Vergil Ortiz (22-0, 21 KOs), he will put himself in a position for big fights against Terence Crawford, Sebastian Fundora, Israil Madrimov, Bakhram Murtazaliev, and Tim Tszyu.
There are endless possibilities for big-money fights available to the 27-year-old Boots Ennis if he chooses to stay at junior middleweight after a potential fight against Vergil Jr. on February 22nd.
Vergil is coming off a controversial 12-round majority decision win over WBC interim 154-lb champion Serhii Bohachuk on August 10th in Las Vegas.
The boxing world saw it as a robbery, believing that the judges gave the more popular Ortiz Jr. the win because he was younger, better known, and had a higher upside than the foreign fighter Bohachuk. What made the win worse was Vergil choosing not to give Bohachuk a rematch to clear up the controversy.
Despite being a world champion and seen as having a better future, Boots Ennis will likely be the B-side against Vergil Jr. He might need to drop him several times or knock him out to get the win. The good news is the fight could happen in Riyadh rather than Las Vegas, but Ennis would still be the B-side.
Ennis is defending his IBF welterweight title next month in a rematch against Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9th at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) is defending his WBC super flyweight title against Pedro Guevara (42-4-1, 22 KOs) in the co-feature on the card.
