Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis are finalizing a 147-lb unification fight for April 12th at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. If the fight gets made, it’ll be shown on DAZN, promoted Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom, and will have Ennis’ IBF strap and Stanionis’ WBA belt at stake in this two-belt unification.
Boots vs. Stanionis In The Works
The Ring reports that Ennis-Stanionis is close to being finalized for April 12th. This is a 50-50 match that Boots could lose. Stanionis would be finishing what Karen Chukhadzhian started last November when he embarrassed Ennis in front of his fans at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Ennis’ dream is to collect all four belts to become the undisputed welterweight champion, and it’s a goal that works against his other ambition to become a superstar.
Has Ennis Peaked?
Boots (33-0, 29 KOs) turned down a massive money fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr. for next month’s Riyadh Season card in February, and that is an unpopular move that many fans view as a classic duck. They think Ennis is scared, knowing that he could lose to Ortiz Jr. and his once-promising career would be sunk.
The way Boots looked in his last fight against Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9th, it’s reasonable to assume his self-confidence is gone. So, he will play it safe, using his ‘goal’ of becoming undisputed at 147 as a foxhole to hide from the risky fights at 154 against Vergil Jr, and the other killers that could end Boots’ career.
I would have never believed that Boots Ennis would become a boring, risk-averse fighter after just nine years in the pro game. He’d looked like pure 24k gold when he first turned pro in 2016, but his fake facade has been rapidly chipped away since 2023, showing that Boots is just a regular run-of-the-mill hype job. It’s difficult not to come to that conclusion from watching four of Ennis’ fights since 2023.
In the last two years, Boots has looked mediocre in three fights:
– Roiman Villa
– Karen Chukhadzhian x 2
– David Avanesyan
It’s obvious from looking at these fights that Eddie Hearn made the mistake of signing Boots, and that’s not going to be the star that he naively thought he was when he inked him to Matchroom Boxing.
