Ortiz vs. Ennis, Stevenson vs. Zepeda: De La Hoya’s 5 vs 5 Dream Card

Promoter Oscar De La Hoya agreed to Eddie Hearn’s offer for a 5 vs 5 Golden Boy vs. Matchroom card. The former six-division world champion De La Hoya wants to make it a 6 vs 6, with him facing Hearn in the headliner.

The 45-year-old Hearn doesn’t have boxing experience and would stand no chance against the 51-year-old De La Hoya in a fight.

De La Hoya said that Hearn must agree to the conditions for the fights to be contested in a “tiny ring” so that none of the fighters can “run,” which is a dig at Shakur Stevenson because of his highly mobile style.

WBC lightweight champion Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) would be at a tremendous disadvantage fighting the high-volume pressure fighter Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) in a small 16-foot ring. While Hearn agreed to the Stevenson-Zepeda fight, he didn’t mention De La Hoya’s condition that it must be in a smaller ring rather than a 24-foot one that Shakur would likely insist on.

De La Hoya’s 5 vs 5 in “Tiny Ring”

– Vergil Ortiz vs Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis
– Jaime Munguia vs Diego Pacheco
– William Zepeda vs Shakur Stevenson
– Oscar Duarte vs Devin Haney
– Jose Ramirez vs. Arnold Barboza: Winner faces Jack Catterall

Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) is coming off a three-knockdown, 12-round majority decision loss to Ryan Garcia on April 20th at the Barclays Center. Haney took a lot of punishment in that fight, and he’s probably not going to be agreeable to fighting a slugger like Oscar Duarte (27-2-1, 22 KOs).

The Hearn-promoted IBF welterweight champion ‘Boots’ Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) has never fought at 154, and he may not be ready to take on the unbeaten WBC junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) in his debut in the weight class.

Ortiz Jr. is coming off a grueling majority decision win over Serhii Bohachuk on August 10th in a fight that many fans felt he lost. Ortiz Jr could drag his feet on the idea of fighting Boots Ennis, because it involves risk. He didn’t want to give Bohachuk a rematch to clear up the controversy over their fight.

Only three of the fights De La Hoya is interested in have a chance of being made. In Hearn’s reply to De La Hoya’s offer, he points out that he doesn’t promote Devin Haney, but he’ll ask him if he’s interested in fighting Duarte. Hearn also reminds De La Hoya that he no longer promotes Munguia. He’s with Top Rank now, but if he returns, that’s a possibility.

“Boots v Ortiz – AGREED. Munguia v Pacheco, he left you for Top Rank but if you can bring him back AGREED. Shakur v Zepeda AGREED. Duarte v Haney, Devin is not officially with us but happy with the fight and to discuss with him. Caterrall v Barboza/Ramirez AGREED,” said Eddie Hearn on X, agreeing to most of the five fights that Oscar De La Hoya proposed but not mentioning the challenge for a fight between them.