During the broadcast of Isaac Cruz’s sixth-round knockout of Nestor Bravo on Saturday, DAZN’s Chris Mannix reported that Ortiz is planning to return December 12. Mannix also named Jermell Charlo, Keith Thurman and Jesus Ramos as potential opponents for the Dallas, Texas, native.

Ortiz (24-0, 22 KOs), The Ring’s No. 2 junior middleweight, hasn’t fought since November 8 when he scored a devastating second-round stoppage of Erickson Lubin. The win was supposed to set the stage for a megafight against Jaron “Boots” Ennis (36-0, 32 KOs), now The Ring’s No. 1 junior middleweight and ninth pound-for-pound.

Talks for the fight fell through after Ortiz, 28, sued his promoter, Golden Boy, for breach of contract on January 16 in a Nevada court. Ortiz tried to make the fight against Ennis without the company’s involvement, but it retained a temporary restraining order on February 13 to prevent it from happening.

Ortiz and Golden Boy reached an amicable settlement on July 17 to avoid arbitration and any pending litigation. Ennis, 29, stopped Xander Zayas in the seventh round on June 27 to become the WBA and WBO 154-pound champion.

Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs) was the undisputed 154-pound champion but hasn’t fought since moving up to super middleweight and losing a one-sided unanimous decision to Canelo Alvarez in September 2023. Ramos (24-1, 19 KOs), The Ring’s No. 9 middleweight, was scheduled to face Meiirim Nursultanov in the co-main event of Cruz-Bravo, but he withdrew after he was hospitalized Thursday.

Ramos, 25, holds the interim WBC middleweight title, while Ortiz holds the same designation at 154 pounds. Premier Boxing Champions announced that Ramos-Nursultanov would be rescheduled for a later date.

Thurman (31-2, 23 KOs), a former unified champion at welterweight, is coming off a one-sided loss to WBC 154-pound champion Sebastian Fundora on March 28. The 37-year-old from Clearwater, Florida, has fought three times since 2019.