It seems Ortiz realizes more than anyone that he wasted an entire year of his physical prime. In hindsight, he understands, too, that it never should’ve happened.

Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of his second-round destruction of Erickson Lubin. Ortiz went face to face with rival Jaron “Boots” Ennis in the ring after he knocked out Lubin and it looked like his dominant win would lead to them finally fighting.

Squaring off against Ennis would’ve offered Ortiz (24-0, 22 KOs) the important opportunity he overcame so much to secure.

His career, you’ll remember, nearly came to an unfortunate, unfulfilling end when Ortiz battled rhabdomyolysis in 2022 and 2023. Once he conquered that rare, damaging muscle condition and stopped pulling out of fights, Ortiz went on a remarkable run that included points wins against Serhii Bohachuk and Israil Madrimov and his stoppage of Lubin in his last three fights.

Rather than facing Ennis next, however, Ortiz opted to file a lawsuit against Golden Boy Promotions for breach of contract, among other things. A judge ruled in favor of Oscar De La Hoya’s company and Ortiz’s decision essentially led to this unnecessary one-year layoff.

The 28-year-old Ortiz and De La Hoya have tried to move past the damaging things that were said and done and have scheduled his return for December 5. Beating Keith Thurman on the David Benavidez-Michal Cieslak undercard won’t do much to re-establish the momentum Ortiz had when he beat Lubin because Thurman (30-2, 23 KOs, 1 NC) was battered by WBC 154-pound champ Sebastian Fundora in his last fight – a sixth-round, technical-knockout loss March 28 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Ortiz, of Grand Prairie, Texas, will meet Thurman, of Clearwater, Florida, in a middleweight match. That’ll take Thurman further away from the welterweight division in which he did the best work of his career, which is among the reasons Ortiz is 10-1 favorite.

Still, Ortiz will get back in the ring and attempt to remind fans why he is one of the most entertaining, formidable fighters in boxing. There aren’t any fights at middleweight thereafter that are as meaningful for Ortiz as his ever-elusive showdown with Ennis, but at least he can begin putting a frustrating, wasted year of his physical prime behind him.

Who would’ve predicted after what we witnessed the night of September 12 that Benavidez and Jai Opetaia would’ve gone in such different directions over the past two months?

Opetaia (31-0, 24 KOs) and Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs) agreed after Opetaia stopped Noel Mikaelian in the ninth round on the Ryan Garcia-Conor Benn undercard at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that they would fight on Cinco de Mayo weekend at the same venue.

Benavidez was already committed to facing Cieslak next, but Cieslak is a big underdog entering their cruiserweight title unification fight next month at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. Oleksandr Usyk still thought then there was a chance he could fight Deontay Wilder in perhaps the final fight of his celebrated career early in 2027.

Somehow, here we are two months later awaiting Opetaia’s heavyweight fight against Wilder on the Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua undercard December 11 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. And rather than fighting Wilder (45-4-1, 43 KOs), Usyk is pushing to battle Benavidez in a cruiserweight showdown that appeared highly unlikely because the unbeaten Ukrainian southpaw has competed at heavyweight for the past seven years.

With more money and legacy available in a fight against Usyk (25-0, 16 KOs), Benavidez would prefer to face the former undisputed cruiserweight champ May 1. That could cause Opetaia to remain at heavyweight if he can withstand Wilder’s right hands next month.

Now that Canelo Alvarez has re-established himself as boxing’s best super middleweight among active fighters, Hamzah Sheeraz seems like the logical choice to become the Mexican icon’s first opponent of 2027.

Sheeraz wouldn’t have given up his WBO super middleweight title in September if he hadn’t received a strong indication that he could challenge Alvarez (64-3-2, 39 KOs) next if the four-division champ beat Christian Mbilli (29-1-1, 24 KOs) for the WBC belt Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Beyond Ring owner Turki Alalshikh’s well-documented fondness for Sheeraz (24-0-1, 19 KOs), he is an undefeated former world champion and perhaps the most appealing opponent from Alvarez’s viewpoint.

England’s Sheeraz seemingly deserved to lose to Carlos Adames in what resulted in a suspect split draw in February 2025. He later looked lethargic throughout his unanimous points victory over Simon Zachenhuber in his last fight July 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Alvarez also has long expressed a desire to fight in England before his career ends. The last bout of his four-fight deal with Riyadh Season is expected to take place in Riyadh, but matching Alvarez against Sheeraz in England would do big business in the country where Sheeraz was born and raised.

■ Denzel Bentley versus Shane Mosley Jr. is quietly one of the most compelling fights Zuffa Boxing has put together since it regularly began scheduling cards in January. Bentley (22-3-1, 18 KOs), who gave up his WBO middleweight title to sign with Zuffa, and Mosley (23-5, 13 KOs) are both coming off the most impressive victories of their careers. London’s Bentley stopped Endry Saavedra in the seventh round April 4 to win the WBO interim championship and Mosley beat Bohachuk by sixth-round TKO on May 10. Mosley, 35, should secure a title shot if he beats Bentley, who is slightly favored to win Zuffa’s co-feature before former WBO cruiserweight champ Chris Billam-Smith’s main event versus amateur rival Chev Clarke (Sky Sports in the UK; Paramount+ in the United States).

■ Willy Hutchinson was knocked down twice and lost to Joshua Buatsi by at least five points on two scorecards in September 2024. The Scottish light heavyweight contender is still a small betting favorite to win their 12-round rematch Saturday night, a main event DAZN will stream from AO Arena in Manchester, England. London’s Buatsi (20-1, 13 KOs) is ranked fifth among The Ring’s contenders for Dmitry Bivol’s 175-pound title. Hutchinson (20-2, 14 KOs) is ranked No. 7.

■ Props to Jaime Munguia for fighting out of serious trouble in the sixth round Saturday, taking complete control in the second half of his fight against Nikita Zon and retaining his WBA super middleweight title on the Alvarez-Mbilli undercard. After that performance, though, you’d have to favor Bektemir Melikuzuiev (17-1, 11 KOs), a stronger southpaw than Zon (12-1-1, 10 KOs), to dethrone the inconsistent Munguia (47-2, 35 KOs) when they fight early in 2027.