The Spence-Crawford winner will vacate the titles and move up in weight and both men will be fighting for minor titles that will be promoted to the world title after titles become vacant.
Ennis already holds the IBF "interim" title. At the same time, Ortiz will face Eimantas Stanionis for Stanionis's WBA "regular" title, so each could hold a world title by the end of the year.
Ortiz has the tougher task against the undefeated Stanionis, who is a rugged mauler capable of winning over Ortiz and grabbing future glory for himself.
Ortiz has stopped every opponent but his battles with Rhabdomyolysis have caused two postponements of this fight and if Stanionis is able to reach Ortiz to the body to rough him up, we really don't know how Ortiz will react to that after his issues.
Ortiz is the bigger puncher and has the better resume' but Stanionis might be the first fighter that is capable of matching the physical strength of Ortiz.
It's a fascinating fight to think about and while Ortiz is a deserved favorite, some oddsmakers may be sleeping on Stanionis's chances.
Stanionis fights for PBC but Golden Boy Promotions won a purse bid for their man Ortiz and will be promoting the fight which will be held in San Antonio.
Editor's Note: Due to another issue with Rhabdomyolysis, Vergil Ortiz has been forced to drop out of his fight against Eimantas Stanionis.
In my opinion, the WBA needs to act quickly to name another opponent for Stanonis for some time in the next two or three months as it's apparent that Vergil Ortiz's health problems, though no fault of his own, have made him undependable to try yet another attempt to make a fight with Stanionis.
It's unfortunate but it's the right thing to do.
The highest-ranking contender in the WBA rankings would be 13-0 Shakram Giyasov followed by former WBA and WBC champion Keith Thurman.
Meanwhile, over on Showtime, Ennis, who had looked devastating in every fight before his last in winning every round of a twelve-round decision over Karen Chukhadzhian to win his minor title, fights Roiman Villa, who had stopped every opponent in his first twenty-four wins (Villa has one loss) before his two most recent wins (and biggest) in upset victories over Janelson Bocachica and in his last time out, a majority decision over Rashidi Ellis.
Villa isn't be taken lightly but he doesn't match the power of Ennis and he certainly isn't going to outbox Ennis and while he is a very credible opponent, he doesn't match up well against Boots.
Each card's co-feature will pit highly touted lightweight prospects as their co-feature.
On DAZN, Golden Boy's speedy Floyd Schofield will take on veteran Haskell Rhodes, while on Showtime, bomber Edwin De Los Santos battles Joseph Adorno.
De Los Santos has fourteen KOs in his fifteen wins ( De Los Santos has one loss, a split decision against undefeated William Foster) and has knocked out two highly thought-of prospects in two and three rounds (Luis Acosta and Jose Valenzuela) in his most recent fights.
Adorno has lost his two biggest fights by decision against Michel Rivera and in his last fight against Elvis Rodriguez and he has a draw against Jamaine Ortiz but other than a close decision win over then-undefeated Hugo Roldan, Adorno lacks a win over anyone of note.
Schofield knocked out Jesus Leon in two rounds last time out and against the veteran Rhodes, he should pass his first test against a veteran, who while losing in each of his step-up fights is still the best opponent in Schofield's short career.
With the late cancellation of Stanionis-Ortiz, I've added the Friday main event on DAZN with their promising super middleweight Diego Pacheco against Manuel Gallegos.
Pacheco looks like a future title contender and defeated former fringe contender Jack Cullen in his last fight while Gallegos battled to an exciting draw in February on the ProBoxTV card against Richard Vansiclen.
Boxing Challenge
Vince Samano: Ennis KO 5
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