Tim Bradley says he suspects that trainer Robert Garcia was warned by Canelo Alvarez’s coach Eddy Reynoso not to allow Vergil Ortiz Jr. to fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
Boots Ennis Spars with Canelo
Calling it a case of “Mexican hood,” Bradley believes Reynoso phoned Robert Garcia to warn him not to let Mexican American Vergil Jr. face Ennis after watching how well he had done in training camp, helping Canelo Alvarez in sparring for his fight against Terence Crawford on September 13th.
Bradley theorizes that Robert received a warning to keep the talented ‘Boots’ Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs) away from WBC interim junior middleweight champion Ortiz Jr. (24-0, 22 KOs).
“‘Boot,’ what you’re seeing right now is Mexican hood. You don’t think [Canelo’s trainer Eddy] Reynoso got that call to Robert Garcia. ‘Boots-Vergil Ortiz, don’t do it.’ That’s what it was,” said Tim Bradley on his channel about his belief that Canelo Alvarez’s coach Eddy Reynoso phoned trainer Roberto Garcia, warning him not to allow Vergil Ortiz Jr. to fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis after watching the success he had sparring Canelo.
“Mexican Hood” Warning Call
“He [coach Robert Garcia] got the call. And the call was, ‘You don’t need him. [He’s] Off limits. That boy [Ennis] is bad. He’s in there doing something to Canelo. They’re going back and forth. But damn, Canelo is a 168-pounder. ‘Boots’ is a 154-pounder, and he’s hanging with Canelo. Nah, you don’t need him.’ That’s called Mexican hood. They got that.
The way that Ennis looked in his debut at 154, knocking out contender Uisma Lima in the first round on October 11, 2025, Robert Garcia wouldn’t need to be warned away by Reynoso. He saw for himself how dangerous Ennis was.
De La Hoya’s Duck Talk
Ortiz Jr’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, was talking what many fans believe was duck language after Vergil Jr’s second-round TKO win over Erickson Lubin on November 8, 2025, at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
De La Hoya said Vergil Jr. has the “upper hand” in any negotiations, and they would want a deal that is “favorable to us.” The way De La Hoya was talking, he didn’t sound like he wanted to make a fight with Ennis. Robert mentioned after the fight that Ortiz Jr. had other options, like Jermell Charlo, Errol Spence, and Xander Zayas.
“So, you call yourself going over there to help Canelo. Guess what? You [‘Boots’ Ennis] gave them information about yourself. Now, it’s backfiring. Now you’re looking stupid, now you’re looking desperate [by trying to get a fight against Vergil Jr.],” said Bradley.
Bradley’s Theory Gains Traction
That scenario that Tim mentions sounds believable, but that’s likely not why the fight won’t happen. Again, De La Hoya already sounded like he wasn’t interested in making the Vergil Jr. vs. Ennis fight last Saturday night after his knockout of Lubin. It’s a bad style match-up for Ortiz Jr.
Last Updated on 11/12/2025
