Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis told his promoter, Eddie Hearn, that he wants him to continue working on setting up a unification fight for him at welterweight rather than focusing on a match against Teofimo Lopez.
Ennis is obstinate and unyielding about his assistance in setting up the unification fights at 147. He’s putting Hearn in an impossible position where he’s doomed to fail because the champions don’t want to fight Boots. They want NOTHING to do with Boots for good reason. He’s invisible.
Ennis is unpopular, the fight won’t create interest, and the champions will likely lose. So, why would they agree to fight him? They won’t unless Hearn showers them with money he’s unwilling to pay.
Negotiating The Impossible
Hearn said Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) doesn’t care about money, and he just wants the unification matches against the other 147-lb champions. So, he will try to negotiate a unification fight for Boots against WBC champion Mario Barrios and WBA belt-holder Eimantas Stanionis next.
If he can’t get any of those fighters to agree, he said Boots could possibly have a match against Teofimo or Vergil Ortiz Jr. It’s going to come down to money. Stanionis and Barrios aren’t going to come cheap, and it may require His Excellency Turki Alalshikh to get involved so that Hearn can set those fights up for Ennis.
“He needs a big fight, and he wants that to be a unification. If we can’t get a unification, it’s tough. Then we have to look at other options, which could be Teofimo Lopez or Vergil Ortiz,” said Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV, talking about Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
“For me, I love the fight [Teofimo], but for him, it’s not the money. He wants to unify the division. That’s the target and goal. When I went to him, he said, ‘That’s a cool fight, but you’ve got to push for champions,'” said Hearn about what Boots Ennis told him when he mentioned the Teofimo fight.
Fans Left Frustrated
Fans will be disappointed that the Jaron Ennis vs. Teofimo Lopez fight isn’t being made because they were interested in seeing it.
The people disgusted with Ennis for his decision not to accept the title shot against WBC interim 154-lb champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. for the February 22nd card were willing to look past that with the news of him potentially fighting Teofimo. But now that Hearn says Ennis isn’t interested in the Teofimo fight, it will be like throwing fuel on a fire. It’s going to re-ignite the anger fans have for Ennis.
