There was a point when Vergil Ortiz Jr. was willing to remain active while waiting for a title shot or at least a big fight.

The unbeaten welterweight contender now aims for those worlds to collide.

A petition has been filed with the WBA by Ortiz, who seeks to have his mandatory challenger title status enforced in a showdown with secondary WBA welterweight titlist Eimantas Stanionis. Both boxers are stuck in a holding pattern awaiting a shot at the division’s top prize, as WBA “Super”/WBC/IBF champ Errol Spence Jr. (28-0, 22KOs) and WBO titlist Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford (38-0, 29KOs) continue to negotiate a targeted undisputed championship.  

Ortiz hopes to shorten the wait time as it relates to his own crack at the welterweight crown.

“One thing we have done, since I’m the WBA mandatory or whatever… we reached out to the WBA and pushed the mandatory thing to fight Stanionis,” Ortiz revealed during a recent interview with The DAZN Boxing Show co-hosts Akin ‘Ak’ Reyes and Barak Bess. “Hopefully we get it by the end of this year.”

Ortiz (19-0, 19KOs) is the number-one welterweight challenger in the latest WBA and WBO rankings, number two with the WBC and number three with the IBF. The 24-year-old knockout artist from Grand Prairie, Texas pushed his way to the top of the WBA queue following a ninth-round knockout of England’s Michael McKinson. Their August 13 clash of unbeaten welterweights was a sanctioned WBA title eliminator, specifically to next challenge Lithuania’s Stanionis (14-0, 9KOs; 1ND) who holds the WBA ‘World’ (Regular) title.

Stanionis has twice agreed to step aside in lieu of his own shot at the WBA ‘Super’ title, the first time after initially refusing to bow down in an ordered fight with then-titleholder Yordenis Ugas. He eventually granted his blessing for Ugas to first face Spence, in exchange for a shot at then-WBA ‘World’ (Regular) titleholder Radzhab Butaev and the promise of facing the Spence-Ugas winner.  

Spence dethroned Ugas via tenth-round, injury stoppage, while Stanionis outpointed Butaev. However, the 2016 Lithuanian Olympian agreed to stand down as Spence targets an undisputed championship showdown with Crawford. Stanionis is expected to land on the Spence-Crawford undercard, should the fight happen.

Ortiz—who was already targeting a quick turnaround by no later than year’s end—plans to have his say in that matter.

“Vergil wants his chance at a title, he wants the biggest fight there is to get him one step closer to Spence or Crawford,” Rick Mirigian, Ortiz’s manager, told BoxingScene.com. “At 147 he has the best resume of anyone coming to challenge the throne. He knows the value of that prestigious WBA title and just wants his chance.

“We hope Golden Boy Promotions (Ortiz’s career-long promoter) and the WBA can make it happen. Vergil stands ready for whatever can be worked out between them. What a fight to end the year if it gets done.”

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