Junior middle is getting its act together, and not a moment too soon

Let me say for the umpteenth time that, no matter what any mainstream sports publication’s lazy headline writer may tell you, there is no such thing as a “fight to save boxing”.

There is, however, a fight to save the sanity of hardcore boxing fans, and it is Jaron “Boots” Ennis-Vergil Ortiz Jnr.

And, in a shocking twist that defies every time anyone among us in the fight fan fraternity has ever uttered the phrase, “this is why we can’t have nice things”, signs are suddenly pointing very strongly toward our collective sanity being saved. The fight we want … the fight we need … the fight that makes too much sense for it to possibly not happen but nevertheless looked like it wasn’t going to happen … is … well …

As my colleague Jake Donovan wrote on Monday, “sources from both sides describe the continued progress as ‘getting close’ and that it would be a stunning letdown at this point if they fail to come to terms”.

So, barring a “stunning letdown” – which boxing fans are conditioned never to be overly stunned by – we’re going to get the meeting between undefeated, evenly matched, in-their-physical-prime junior middleweights that is everything we could ever possibly want in a prize fight.

And it’s not even a wild outlier. It’s not one thirst-quenching oasis in a vast desert. In the 154lbs division, Ennis-Ortiz Jnr happening would actually be part of a trend.

At this time last week, our cup at junior middleweight was half-empty, and the other half contained a spit-bucket cocktail. But now all of a sudden, our cup runneth over. The junior middles look set to give us everything we want and more.

Maybe we can have nice things after all?

I mean, there’s still time for contracts to get shredded, fighters to get injured, and so forth. But at the moment, all signs point to an overabundance of nice things in what is about to become the hottest division in boxing.

On the same day that those encouraging reports about an Ennis-Ortiz Jnr fight in April came out, word followed that Errol Spence Jnr had an agreement in place to fight Tim Tszyu in June, provided Tszyu prevails in a March tune-up.

In a vacuum, Spence-Tszyu — a meeting of ex-titlists, one inactive for the past three years, the other having lost three of his past five fights — is B-level news at best. Sure, it’s an intriguing crossroads fight between noteworthy names. But let’s just say you’d have a hard time selling this as a pay-per-view headliner in 2026.

It is not occurring in a vacuum, though, and it’s significant because Spence’s name was the one Ortiz Jnr and his people have been throwing around as the fight they supposedly really wanted.

Maybe they were just looking for leverage in the Ennis negotiations. Maybe a fight with Spence was something they were seriously discussing. Either way, the news that Spence has worked out a June fight with Tszyu makes it that much more apparent that Ortiz Jnr has nowhere to turn but toward “Boots”.

On top of that, Sebastian Fundora, probably the top dog in the division following Terence Crawford’s retirement, has his next fight set, headlining a PBC PPV on March 28, against Keith Thurman. It’s a fight with a clear favorite and underdog, certainly, but it’s an appealing clash of name-brand boxers just the same – and you can talk yourself into the 37-year-old Thurman, who still does have only one loss on his record after 33 fights, being the best opponent “The Towering Inferno” has faced yet.

Ennis-Ortiz Jnr, Spence-Tszyu and Fundora-Thurman make for one hell of a triple bill in the upper reaches of the division.

And there’s compelling depth of talent beyond that.

The 23-year-old Xander Zayas is fresh off both an impressive win over Abass Baraou and a profile-raising Super Bowl half-time appearance.

Baraou is himself a now-proven commodity to be taken seriously.

Josh Kelly has possession of a title belt following an upset win over Bakhram Murtazaliev.

Murtazaliev is still perhaps the scariest puncher in the division.

Then there’s Israil Madrimov, whose only two losses were narrow decisions to Crawford and Ortiz Jnr.

There’s also Brandon Adams, Isaac Lucero, and, bouncing between 154 and 160, Jesus Ramos Jnr.

We can go about 15 names deep in this division right now with boxers we care about, and, importantly, the best of them are ready and willing to fight each other.

As long as there aren’t any “stunning letdowns,” of course.

But this is no time to traffic in pessimism. I’m just going to pretend all this legal beef between Ortiz Jnr and his promoter (or former promoter?) Oscar De La Hoya isn’t happening. I’m going to ignore the pointlessness of Ennis’ fight with Uisma Lima in October and the possibility that Spence isn’t really Spence anymore and that Tszyu isn’t really Tszyu anymore (or, worse, was never all that good).

Because if we get Ennis-Ortiz Jnr, there’s no better division right now for fight fans than 154lbs.

The last time I remember being this excited about the potential for this weight class was back around the end of 1999. (Insert an obvious “gonna party like it’s” joke of your choosing here.)

Young, undefeated Olympians Fernando Vargas and David Reid had title belts. Welterweight superstars De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad and Ike Quartey were all talking about moving up. Future hall of famer Winky Wright was almost an afterthought amid all that star power.

We got Vargas-Wright, Trinidad-Reid, Vargas-Quartey, Trinidad-Vargas and eventually De La Hoya-Vargas, and they all delivered. (We also later got Wright-Trinidad, one weight class up, which I suppose delivered if you were a Winky fan.)

The star power in the current class isn’t on that level, but the match-ups are every bit as compelling, and crucially, it seems they’re all happening.

Ennis-Ortiz Jnr is the centerpiece, of course. It’s a 28-year-old with a record of 35-0 (31 KOs) against a 27-year-old with a record of 24-0 (22 KOs).

Good luck picking a winner. But know that whoever does win enters the conversation for a spot in the pound-for-pound top five.

And think of all the possibilities after that.

If Ortiz Jnr prevails, and if Spence beats Tszyu, they can move forward with the all-Texas Ortiz Jnr-Spence showdown.

Or, if Ortiz Jnr wins and Fundora beats Thurman, admit it, you’d consider severing a pinkie toe for Ortiz Jnr-Fundora.

If Ennis beats Ortiz Jnr, bring on Ennis-Spence. Or Ennis-Fundora. Or Ennis-Zayas. Or Ennis-Kelly in the UK.

Fundora-Zayas is a scorcher. Spence-Thurman would be a meaningful clash of the old guard that somehow didn’t happen when they were in their primes. Fundora-Murtazaliev could be spectacular.

Hell, if either Ennis or Ortiz Jnr keeps winning and cleans out the division, maybe there’s even a chance Crawford comes out of retirement to reclaim his turf.

It’s all so tantalizing. And it’s all such a pronounced reversal from this time last week, when Ennis-Ortiz Jnr felt like a pipe dream, when we didn’t know if Spence would ever fight again, and when the division overall was little more than a frustrating collection of talent going to waste.

We just need Ennis-Ortiz Jnr to get over the finish line, and then all the pieces fall into place.

We can have nice things. Please, boxing, give us this nice thing. Our collective sanity depends on it.

Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with nearly 30 years of experience covering the sport for such outlets as BoxingScene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, and The Ring (where he served as managing editor for seven years). He also co-hosted The HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney, The Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Raskin & Mulvaney, and Ring Theory. He has won three first-place writing awards from the BWAA, for his work with The Ring, Grantland, and HBO. Outside boxing, he is the senior editor of CasinoReports and the author of 2014’s The Moneymaker Effect. He can be reached on X, BlueSky, or LinkedIn, or via email at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com.