NEW YORK — The first time was a case of bad communication.

Apparently, Jaron “Boots” Ennis wasn’t willing to walk away from a second offer to fight Vergil Ortiz. Eddie Hearn revealed to a group of reporters recently that Ennis accepted an offer to fight Ortiz on Aug. 16 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Ennis’ promoter didn’t specify when he'd agreed to oppose Ortiz in a 154-pound bout, but it didn’t matter because Hearn was informed the latter wouldn’t be ready to fight at that time. Ortiz is still waiting for his surgically repaired right hand to heal.

“We were asked if we would be interested in fighting Vergil Ortiz on August 16,” Hearn said. “Boots said yes, but Vergil’s not ready to fight in August. But that’s a big fight towards the end of the year.”

In 2024 Ennis was approached with a Feb. 22 date vs. Ortiz in Riyadh. Although it sounded enticing, Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs, 1 NC) believed he had unfinished business at 147 pounds.

Ennis wanted to become the second fully unified 147-pound champ of the four-belt era. He announced Wednesday on X that he will give up The Ring, IBF and WBA welterweight titles to compete at junior middleweight.

Before he made that decision, Ennis at least felt what it was like to take a title off a current champion.

Philadelphia’s Ennis beat Lithuania’s Eimantas Stanionis (15-1, 9 KOs, 1 NC) by technical knockout after six rounds to add the WBA belt to his collection April 12 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

As for Ortiz (23-0, 21 KOs), he grabbed arguably the biggest win of his career when he defeated Israil Madrimov by unanimous decision Feb. 22 in Riyadh.

Although two welterweight belts remain with Mario Barrios (WBC) and Brian Norman (WBO), Ennis wasn't interested in chasing those fights anymore.

There are a ton of options for Ennis, however, at 154. He could wait for the winner of the Tim Tszyu-Sebastian Fundora rematch July 19 in Las Vegas. He could also call out IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev.

Everything is up in the air, including a matchup with Ortiz, according to Hearn.

Turning down fights isn’t common for Ortiz. After his win over Madrimov, he needed surgery.

As first reported by The Ring, the procedure went well, but Ortiz is still recovering.