IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) is reportedly finalizing a unification bout against WBA champion Eimantas Stanionis (15-1, 9 KOs) in a match promoted by Matchroom on DAZN on April 12 Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
A ring reports that Ennis vs. Stanionis is close to being finished. However, fighting in Atlantic City is unusual, as there are no boxing events today. It would make sense for the fight to be in Boot’s hometown of Philadelphia, but given how bad she looked in her last fight with Karen Chukhadzhian, it’s probably better if it’s in Atlantic City.
Ennis’ Irresistible Quest
Boots took the fans by storm by turning down a fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr. at 154 in favor of staying at 147 to continue working towards his goal of becoming the undefeated welterweight champion.
Ennis, 27, has the right promoter, Eddie Hearn, to make his dream come true, but it still looks like a waste. The three champions Jaron needs to beat, Stanionis, Mario Barrios, and Brian Norman Jr., are not household names in the US
Terence Crawford’s fame skyrocketed when he defeated Errol Spence to become the undefeated welterweight champion in 2023, but he was a superstar. Boots won’t have that because the three champions they’ll be fighting are unknown to the average fan.
‼️ Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis vs Eimantas Stanionis is now close to finalizing the WBA and IBF welterweight world title fight 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 else,” Tim Bradley told State of Boxing, blasting Jaron Ennis for going the entire nine years of his career without fighting an A-level fighter. “He had a lot of opportunities to get in the ring with a lot of guys, Vergil Ortiz at that time, but he chose not to.”
Boots Under Fire
Jaron Ennis came off a poor performance in his rematch against the IBF Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9th at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Karen made Ennis look really bad in that fight, punching him out and hitting him with potshots all night; if it weren’t for Chukhadzhian gassing in the championship rounds, Ennis would have lost. Had Hearn made a deal with WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. with the merger battle, Boots could temporarily avoid Karen’s rematch. He would still have to fight, but it would delay it and prevent his stock from plummeting.
On top of all that, Ennis made things worse for himself by turning down a big payday to challenge Vergil Ortiz Jr. for his WBC interim junior middleweight title on the card of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 on February 22 in Riyadh.
That event will be shown on DAZN PPV, and it would be a perfect car for Ennis to increase his star power in just one battle. Beating Vergil Jr. would have done a lot more to turn Ennis into a world star than him becoming the undisputed champion at 147 by beating three unknown champions. Is fear on Ennis’ part or lack of ambition that made him refuse to fight Vergil Ortiz Jr?
I see what the promoter is Eddie Hearn argues trying to turn Jaron Ennis into a star. The boots make it difficult to star him with his hand movements.
