IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) is reportedly finalizing a unification fight against WBA beltholder Eimantas Stanionis (15-1, 9 KOs) on a promoted show by Matchroom on DAZN on April 12 at the Promenade Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The ring reports that Ennis vs. Stanionis is close to being finalized. However, staging the fight in Atlantic City is a strange place, as there aren’t many boxing events these days. It would make more sense for the fight to take place in Boots’ hometown of Philadelphia, but given how bad he looked in his last fight against Karen Chukhadzhian, it might be better for it to be in Atlantic City.
Ennis’ quest for the undisputed
Boots received a lot of criticism from fans for rejecting a fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr. at 154 in favor of staying at 147 to continue working on his goal of becoming the undisputed welterweight champion.
Ennis, 27, has the right promoter, Eddie Hearn, to make his dream come true, but it still seems like a waste. The three champions Jaron must beat, Stanionis, Mario Barrios and Brian Norman Jr., are not household names in the United States.
Terence Crawford’s popularity soared when he beat Errol Spence to become the undisputed welterweight champion in 2023, but he was a star. Boots won’t have that because the three champions he would fight are completely unknown to casual fans.
‼️ Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis vs. Eimantas Stanionis is now almost finalized for a WBA and IBF welterweight world title unification bout on April 12 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, The Ring has learned. pic.twitter.com/JM3dQa8xuT
-Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) January 19, 2025
“It’s time for Boots to get in the ring with someone,” Tim Bradley told the State of Boxingchastising Jaron Ennis for going through his entire nine-year professional career without fighting an A-level fighter. “He had many opportunities to get in the ring with many guys, Vergil Ortiz at that, but he chose not to do it.”
Boots under fire
Jaron Ennis is coming off a poor performance in his rematch against his IBF proxy Karen Chukhadjian on November 9 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Karen made Ennis look really bad in this fight, outboxing him and hitting him with shots all night; Without Chukhadzhian’s gassing in the championship rounds, Ennis would have lost. Had Hearn reached a deal with WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. for a unification fight, Boots could have temporarily avoided Karen’s rematch. He still should have fought, but that could have delayed him and prevented his shares from falling to an all-time low.
On top of all that, Ennis made matters worse by turning down a career-high salary to challenge Vergil Ortiz Jr. for his interim WBC junior middleweight title on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 card on February 22 in Riyadh.
This event will be broadcast on DAZN PPV, and it would have been a perfect vehicle for Ennis to increase his star power with just one fight. Beating Vergil Jr. would have done far more to make Ennis a global superstar than for him to become an undisputed champion at 147 by defeating three little-known champions. Is it fear on Ennis’ part or a lack of ambition which led him to refuse the fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr?
I can see which promoter Eddie Hearn is faced with trying to make Jaron Ennis a star. Boots makes it difficult to become a star with his clumsy movements.
