Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis still insists that he didn’t duck a big-money fight offered to him against Vergil Ortiz Jr. for a smaller one against Eimantas Stanionis. IBF welterweight champion Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) says people “don’t know what they’re talking about.” He blames the fight not happening on “miscommunication.”
Boots’ promoter, Eddie Hearn, spilled the beans, saying that Ennis wanted to stay at 147 and didn’t want to go up to 154. It’s hard to blame it on “miscommunication” when Jaron said he wanted to stay at welterweight. Fans view that as ducking material.
Vergil Ortiz Jr. is looking like a stone-cold killer right now. That makes it look like a classic case of Boots preferring not to mix it with this apex predator and having his unbeaten record marred and his career sent into the garbage heap. If Vergil was just an easy mark, no one would say anything about Boots declining a fight against him for a career-high payday rumored to be $8 million in favor of the match against Stanionis.
Ennis Denies
“Nobody be ducking. Y’all crazy,” said Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to DAZN Boxing, reacting to being told that he’s received a lot of criticism from fans, who believe that he ducked the fight with Vergil Ortiz Jr. on February 22nd.
Chris Mannix: “What was it like the last few months kind of taking criticism for not taking a fight against Vergil, for not fighting a different guy?’
Jaron Ennis: “I’m not worried about those guys right now. I’m focused on Stanionis. I’m focused on what’s in front of me.”
Mannix: “Was it frustrating, though, like feeling criticism for the first time? I think Eddie Hearn said as much. This is probably the first time you’ve experienced kind of blowback publicly in your career.”
Ennis: “Yeah, it was a bunch of miscommunication. Everybody got it all wrong. The podcasters- everybody thinks they know what they’re talking about. They don’t know what they’re talking about. I just let it rock because I don’t care. I’m not going to say I don’t care, but I just don’t care. I don’t care what nobody say, and people don’t know what they’re talking about.
“You know, the podcasters, YouTubers. They think they know what they’re talking about, but they don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, and there was a lot of miscommunication. It was out of my hands, and y’all paint this narrative like I ducked this person [Vergil Ortiz Jr.]. Ain’t nobody be ducking. Y’all crazy.”
Does @Jaronennis deserve criticism? 🤔
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— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) April 12, 2025