FORT WORTH, Texas – The strings of motivation have rolled into a ball of desire fueling Erickson Lubin with everything he’ll require to produce the performance of his lifetime Saturday night against unbeaten WBC interim 154lbs titleholder Vergil Ortiz Jnr.
From the time he committed to venturing to Ortiz’s native Texas for a fight outside his promoter’s domain on DAZN, Lubin knew what he was signing up for.
It’s happened: The “B-side” treatment of a miniaturized version of himself on a fight poster prominently displaying Ortiz, 23-0 (21 KOs), and now word that unbeaten former unified welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis is traveling from Philadelphia to take a ringside seat to help hype a megafight between he and Ortiz in the first half of 2026.
“My main motivation is myself. I feel kind of underachieved right now,” Lubin said Thursday at a session with reporters preceding his downtown appearance at an outdoor square with Ortiz. “Mind you, I [once] had a lot of hype behind me the same way you guys are hyping up Vergil. I’ve seen all this before – it doesn’t surprise me.
“I know what comes with promotion. I’ve been in Vergil’s shoes before, been the one that promoters are all behind for big fantasy matchups like Boots. So I’m motivated by all this stuff … but none of that matters. When we get inside that ring, that’s what matters.
“I know we’re in his hometown, but when we enter that squared circle, we’re in my home.”
Lubin’s similarly convincing readiness on the public stage was so eloquent and sincere that it appeared to move Ortiz. When asked for his own closing remarks, Ortiz aloud wondered how he could top that.
After recently turning 30, Lubin, 27-2 (19 KOs), arrives at the age landmark and this major bout as a man who is experienced and observed, and who has witnessed the good, bad and ugly of the sport.
At 22, Florida’s Lubin was so good that he was thrust into a 154lbs title fight against future undisputed champion Jermell Charlo and was promptly knocked out in the first round.
He responded with six consecutive victories, then was sent in to solve the wondrous 6ft 6½ins current WBC belt holder Sebastian Fundora, scoring a knockdown after receiving one and then being stopped in the ninth round.
“I went toe-to-toe with a guy who’s damn near 7-foot,” Lubin reminded, emphasizing that the Fundora challenge is more demanding than an Ortiz bout with Ennis.
And when Lubin glanced at the fight poster entitled “Dare to Enter,” as if he should be fretting the Ortiz assignment, he said, “It’s more like ‘Judgment Day’ for [Ortiz], because he’s got some proving to do.”
In an extended interview with BoxingScene on Thursday, Lubin dug into how his deep boxing journey has prepared him to produce an upset as a +550 underdog to -900 favorite Ortiz.
He believes Ortiz has lost some power moving up from welterweight and fights similarly to Premier Boxing Champions prospect Jesus Ramos, whom Lubin defeated by unanimous decision in 2023.
Although Lubin possesses the nickname “Hammer” and is capable of dropping foes, he said his focus is to “just win,” perhaps testing Ortiz’s ability to win a third consecutive decision at junior middleweight after 21 consecutive knockouts to open his career against lighter and lesser talent.
“I know I’m capable of hurting anyone I get in the ring with,” Lubin said. “My main goal is to get in there and execute the game plan we’ve come up with, and do it brilliantly.”
Lubin said in the final hours before the DAZN-streamed bout at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth that he has moved beyond all the B-side slights he has tolerated during the build-up to the bout.
“I’m embracing it now, because me being the B-side in his hometown … it’s a great story for when I achieve the glory,” Lubin said. “When I go ahead and show the world and all those who’ve been naysaying about me, there’ll be so much value to it. I’ve locked it in my memory – ‘He said this,’ ‘He said that’ – and after the fight, it’s going to be a whole new ballgame.
“They’re going to come to me with a bunch of praise, and … it is what it is.”
Lubin said he has put in the work to present the prime version of himself Saturday night, and left his gym knowing he’ll win.
“It’s all about preparation, all about where your mind is,” Lubin said. “For me, I’ve been tapped in before and all through this camp. … I’m ready for destiny.
“To go through what I’ve been in boxing and turn around and find myself in such an event in his hometown, in front of all his people, I feel the victory will be so much sweeter.”
Lubin has felt the pain of what one defeat can do to rewind the promise of a boxing career. He glanced back at that misery to strengthen his resolve for Ortiz.
“I have no doubt in my mind about this fight because I’ve done everything I’m supposed to do,” he said. “Everything. I cut no corners. It’s all aligned for me now. Everyone I’m around, everyone I’m in camp with, the things I did in camp, the great sparring I had … it just all makes sense.”
Lubin rejected a lesser-paying IBF title fight against titleholder Bakhram Murtazaliev to accept the Ortiz bout, banking on himself to win and to earn a first-in-line shot at the winner of the early 2026 Fundora title defense versus former unified welterweight champion Keith Thurman.
“Saying yes to the fight, I knew it was my time,” Lubin said. “Great fight, perfect opponent, the No. 1 guy. I always pick the best guys, from the time I was a young pro all the way to now. They came with the numbers, and I went straight to camp. Let’s make it happen.”
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
