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IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) is finalizing a unification fight against WBA belt holder Eimantas Stanionis (15-1, 9 KOs) in a Matchroom-promoted show on DAZN on April 12 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The Ring reports that Ennis vs. Stanionis is nearing completion. However, hosting the fight in Atlantic City is a strange place as there aren’t many boxing events these days. It would make more sense for the fight to take place in Boots’ hometown of Philadelphia, but considering how bad she looked in her last fight against Karen Chukhadzhian, it might be better if it’s in Atlantic City.
Ennis’ Quest for Undisputed
Boots has taken a lot of flak from fans for turning down a fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr. at 154 in favor of staying at 147 to continue working on his goal of becoming the undisputed welterweight champion.
Ennis, 27, has the right promoter, Eddie Hearn, to fulfill his dream, but he still looks like a waste. The three champions Jaron has to beat, Stanionis, Mario Barrios and Brian Norman Jr., are not household names in the United States.
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 be fighting are completely unknown to casual fans.
‼️ Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis vs. Eimantas Stanionis is almost finalized for a WBA/IFB World Welterweight Title Unification Fight on April 12th at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, according to has known The Ring. 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 State of Boxingchiding Jaron Ennis for going his entire nine-year pro 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, but he chose not to.”
Boots under fire
Jaron Ennis is coming off a poor performance in his rematch against his IBF mandatory Karen Chukhadjian on November 9 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Karen made Ennis look really bad in that fight, outboxing him and pummeling him all night; if not for Chukhadzhian’s gasses in the championship rounds, Ennis would have lost. If Hearn had made a deal with WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. for a unification fight, Boots could have temporarily avoided Karen’s rematch. He still would have had to fight, but he could have delayed it and kept his stock from plummeting to an all-time low.
On top of all that, Ennis made matters worse for himself by turning down a bigger payday to challenge Vergil Ortiz Jr. for his interim WBC junior middleweight title on the Artur Beterbiev vs. card. Dmitry Bivol 2 on February 22 in Riyadh.
This event will be shown on DAZN PPV, and it would have been a perfect situation for Ennis to increase his star power with just one fight. Beat Vergil Jr. would have done much more to make Ennis a worldwide superstar than he did to become the undisputed champion at 147 by beating three little-known champions. Is it Ennis’ fear or lack of ambition that caused him to turn down the Vergil Ortiz Jr fight?
