IBF welterweight champion Jaron 'Boots' Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) is said to be finalizing his unification fight against WBA beltholder Eimantas Stanionis (15-1, 9 KOs) in a promotion promoted on Matchroom on DAZN on 12 April at Passage Ballroom in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The ring Reports indicate that Ennis vs. Stanionis is almost finished. However, staging the fight in Atlantic City is an odd location, as there aren't many boxing events there anymore nowadays. It would make more sense for the fight to take place in Potts' hometown of Philadelphia, but given how bad he looked in his last fight against Karen Choukedjian, it might be better for it to be in Atlantic City.
Aeneas searched for undisputed
Potts received a lot of criticism from fans for declining to fight Vergil Ortiz Jr. at 154 in favor of staying at 147 to continue working on his goal of becoming the undisputed champion at welterweight.
Ennis, 27, has the right promoter, Eddie Hearn, to make his dream come true, 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 United States.
Terence Crawford's popularity soared when he defeated Errol Spence to become the undisputed welterweight champion in 2023, but he was a star. Potts won't have this because the three heroes he'll be fighting are completely unknown to casual fans.
‼️ Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis vs Eimantas Stanionis is set to wrap up 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 time for Boots to get in the ring with somebody,” Tim Bradley told Boxing stateJaron berates Ennis for having spent his entire nine-year career without fighting a top-level fighter. “He had a lot of opportunities to get in the ring with a lot of guys, and Virgil Ortiz was the one to do that, but he chose not to.”
Shoes under fire
Jaron Ennis is coming off a poor performance in his rematch against the International Boxing Federation mandatory Karen Chokhadjian on November 9 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Karen made Ennis look really bad in that fight, outsmarting him and outboxing him all night; Had Chokhadjian not been gassed in the tournament rounds, Ennis would have lost. If Hearn had struck a deal with WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. for a unification fight, Potts could have temporarily avoided a rematch with Karen. He still had to fight, but it was possible to postpone it and avoid his stock falling to an all-time low.
On top of all that, Ennis made things worse for himself when he turned down a career-high payday to challenge Virgil Ortiz Jr. for the interim WBC junior middleweight title on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Artur Beterbiev card. Dmitry Bivol 2 on February 22 in Riyadh.
This event will be shown on DAZN PPV, and it could have been Perfect vehicle For Ennis to increase his star power with just one fight. Beating Virgil Jr. would have turned Ennis into much more of a global star than becoming an undisputed champion at 147 years old by beating three unknown champions. Is it fear on Ennis' part? Or the lack of ambition that led him to turn down a fight against Virgil Ortiz Jr.?
I can see what the promoter is Eddie Hearn faces off He's trying to turn Jaron Ennis into a star. Potts makes it difficult to turn him into a star with his clumsy movements.
