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IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) is reportedly wrapping up a unification fight against WBA belt holder Eimantas Stanionis (15-1, 9 KOs ) on a show promoted by Matchroom on DAZN for April 12 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The ring reports that Ennis vs. Stanionis is about to finish. However, staging the fight in Atlantic City is a strange location, as there aren’t many boxing events there these days. It would make more sense for the fight to take place in Philadelphia, Boots’ hometown, but given how bad she looked in her last fight against Karen Chukhadzhian, it might be better if it was in Atlantic City.
Ennis’ Search for the Undisputable
Boots has received a lot of criticism from fans for turning down a fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr. at 154 in favor of staying at 147 to continue working toward his goal of becoming the undisputed welterweight champion.
Ennis, 27, has the right promoter, Eddie Hearn, to achieve his dream, but it still seems 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 popularity skyrocketed when he defeated 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 almost finalized for a WBA and IBF welterweight world title unification 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 about time Boots got in the ring with someone,” Tim Bradley told the Boxing statusscolding Jaron Ennis for going his entire nine-year professional 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 too, but he decided not to.”
Boots under fire
Jaron Ennis is coming off a poor performance in his revenge against his IBF mandate Karen Chukhadjian on November 9 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Karen made Ennis look very bad in that fight, outboxing him and hitting him with potshots all night; If not for 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 a rematch with Karen. He still would have had to fight, but that could have postponed him and prevented his stock from falling to an all-time low.
On top of all that, Ennis made matters worse by turning down a career-high payday to challenge Vergil Ortiz Jr. for his interim WBC junior middleweight title on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 on February 22 in Riyadh.
That event will air on DAZN PPV and would have been a perfect situation for Ennis to increase his star power with just one fight. Beating Vergil Jr. would have done much more to make Ennis a global superstar than becoming undisputed champion at 147 by beating three little-known champions. Is it fear on Ennis’ part or lack of ambition that made him turn down the fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr?
