IBF light heavyweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) is reportedly finalizing a unification bout against VBA belt holder Eimantas Stanionis (15-1, 9 KOs) on a Matchroom-promoted show on DAZN on April 12 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
A ring reports that Ennis vs. Stanionis is close to finalization. However, staging a fight in Atlantic City is an odd location, as there aren’t many boxing events there anymore. It would make more sense for the fight to take place in Boots’ hometown of Philadelphia, but given how bad he looked in his last fight against Karen Chouhadjian, it might be better to have it in Atlantic City.
Ennis’s quest for the undisputed
Boots drew a lot of criticism from fans for turning down a fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr. at 154 in favor of staying at 147 and continuing to work towards his goal of becoming the undisputed welterweight champion.
Ennis, 27, has the right promoter, Eddie Hearn, to make his dream come true, but it still feels 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 soared when he defeated Errol Spence to become the undisputed light heavyweight champion in 2023, but he was the star. Boots won’t have it because the three champions they’ll be up against are completely unknown to casual fans.
‼ Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis vs. Eimantas Stanionis is now all but finalized for a WBA and IBF welterweight world title unification bout on April 12 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, The Ring has learned. pic.twitter.com/JM3dKa8kuT
— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) January 19, 2025
“It’s about time Boots got in the ring with somebody,” said Tim Bradley State of Bookingberates Jeron 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, including Vergil Ortiz, but he chose not to.”
Boots Under Fire
Jaron Ennis has a poor performance in the rematch against his IBF mandatory bout Karen Chukhadjian Nov. 9 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Karen made Ennis look really bad in that fight, outboxing and punching him all night; if it weren’t for Chukhadzhiyan gassing in the championship rounds, Enis would have lost. That Hearn made a deal with WBO light heavyweight champion Brian Norman Jr. for the unification fight, Boots was able to temporarily avoid a Karen rematch. He still had to fight, but it could have delayed and avoided his stock falling to an all-time low.
On top of that, Ennis made things worse for himself by refusing to pay a career-high payday to challenge Virgil Ortiz Jr. for his interim WBC middleweight title at Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitri Bivol 2 on February 22 in Riyadh.
That event will be shown on DAZN PPV, which would be a the perfect vehicle for Ennis to increase his star power with just one fight. Defeating Virgil Jr. would do much more to turn Ennis into a global superstar than becoming the undisputed champion at 147 by defeating three little-known champions. Is it fear on Ennis’ part or the lack of ambition that caused him to turn down a fight against Virgil Ortiz Jr.?
I see what kind of promoter Eddie Hearn is against it trying to make Jaron Ennis a star. Boots has a hard time turning him into a star with his ham moves.
