Golden Boy Promotions has taken additional measures to ensure that a world title fight is within reach for Vergil Ortiz.

The stakes have been raised for the rescheduled clash between Ortiz and England’s Michael McKinson. The winner of Saturday’s DAZN main event will be named the mandatory challenger to the WBA welterweight title, Golden Boy Promotions confirmed Thursday.  

“It feels good,” Ortiz said of the development during Thursday’s final pre-fight press conference at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, where his clasnh with McKinson takes place this Saturday. “Of course, I have to get past Michael on Saturday.

“We’re not going to look past him but I’m very grateful for this fight being an eliminator.”

Ortiz (18-0, 18KOs) is already the number-one contender for both the WBA and WBO, as well as number-two with the WBC and number-three in the most recent IBF rankings. McKinson (22-0, 2KOs) is ranked number-ten by the WBA and number-five by the WBO, though rewarded with his willingness to revisit business with the unbeaten Texan.

“Fuel added to the fire,” insisted McKinson. “Very motivating. I’m very focused. This is just like the cherry on top of the cake.”

The development comes as talks are ongoing for an undisputed welterweight championship clash between WBA/WBC/IBF champ Errol Spence (28-0, 22KOs) and WBO titlist Terence Crawford (38-0, 29KOs). The most optimistic rumors have the potential pound-for-pound showdown taking place in November, though a growing list already awaits the winner.

Philadelphia-bred rising star Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (29-0, 27KOs) is the number-one contender as named by the IBF. Lithuania’s Eimantas Stanionis (14-0, 9KOs) is the secondary WBA ‘World’ welterweight titlist and owed a shot at Spence’s WBA ‘Super’ title, though willing to wait out Spence-Crawford talks and likely to land a title defense in the interim should that superfight materialize.

Interestingly, a win by Ortiz could position him to next face Stanionis for the WBA ‘World’ title. Stanionis is promoted by Richard Schaefer, who used to run Golden Boy Promotions before being forced to resign from the California-based outfit in 2014.

Ortiz and McKinson were due to collide on March 19 in Los Angeles. The bout fell through just ahead of fight week, when Ortiz was forced to withdraw after being hospitalized and treated for rhabdomyolysis.

McKinson went through with his U.S. debut, outpointing Alex Martin. The British southpaw managed to once again land the fight with Ortiz once plans went south for the unbeaten Grand Prairie, Texas native to face David Avanesyan in what would have been a WBC final title eliminator.

Ortiz fights for the third straight time in his home region, and twice in this venue during that stretch.

The 24-year-old contender faced Dallas’ Maurice Hooker (who faces Blair Cobbs on Saturday’s undercard) at Dickies Arena last March, scoring a seventh-round knockout which was his second deepest fight to that point in his career. It was surpassed one fight later, when he stopped former title challenger Egidijus Kavailauskas in the eighth round of their DAZN headliner last August 14 in nearby Frisco, Texas.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox