NEW YORK – Two of boxing’s brightest talents hail from the same big state and same gym, and as they greeted each other Wednesday at a sponsored event to promote Friday’s Times Square card, unbeaten junior-middleweight Vergil Ortiz and junior-featherweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez discussed their next steps.

Ortiz, 23-0 (21 KOs), from Grand Prairie, Texas, is coming off right hand surgery to correct damage suffered in his impressive February 22 victory by decision over former WBA champion Israil Madrimov, and said he expects to return to action by the late summer.

Although he took another rugged opponent before that, in surviving two knockdowns to defeat Serhii Bohachuk in August, Ortiz is likely headed to another immense showdown, with BoxingScene learning that former undisputed 154lbs champion Jermell Charlo is a possible foe.

Charlo, 35-2-1 (19 KOs), hasn’t fought since his September 2023 defeat to Canelo Alvarez.

For now, Ortiz, 27, has seen his division shaken by unified champion Sebastian Fundora’s decision this week to keep his WBC belt and fight Tim Tszyu in a rematch of their bloody bout last year while effectively turning over the WBO belt for top-ranked Xander Zayas to meet second-ranked Jorge Garcia Perez later this year.

“It’s still all the same. I would like to fight everyone, regardless,” WBC interim champion Ortiz said. “It doesn’t matter who has the belt or not.

“We were in line to fight Tszyu, and now he’s enacted his rematch clause, which is fine. As far as Xander, that’s also a good fight to be made if he wins. He does have a tough opponent in Perez [who this month defeated Charles Conwell]. We’ll just have to see how all it plays out, but we have our own schedule and I’ve been informed of some very good things.”

At the Corona Premier event, Ortiz said his recovery will be tested by the threshold of, “as long as I can start hitting things and not re-injure myself, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”

Ortiz previously rejected a Zayas overture to fight to accept a more lucrative purse in Saudi Arabia against Madrimov, but he says he’s happy to eventually pursue the bout in what would be a renewal of the Mexico versus Puerto Rico series.

“I know a lot of people love that rivalry,” Ortiz said. “I’ll stay at 154, but if opportunity exists at 160lbs, I’ll go there, too.”

As for the Times Square card, he said, “This is history, and I’m excited to be here.”

Rodriguez, 21-0 (14 KOs), from San Antonio, will enter the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy later this month to launch his training camp for his July 19 unification bout in Frisco, Texas, against South Africa’s WBO champion Phumelela Cafu, 11-0-3 (8 KOs).

“It’s a great fight. Cafu’s coming off a huge upset of [Kosei] Tanaka, so I know he’s going to come in very motivated to do the same against me, but I’m a different fighter than Tanaka, so he’s going to see that on July 19,” Rodriguez said. “I’m fighting only four hours from San Antonio, so I know my people will show up. My following has grown a lot since I last fought in Texas.”