SINCE Terence Crawford moved away from the division, the welterweight scene is awaiting for a fighter to truly take over. Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis is the man perceived by many to be the top dog at 147lbs. However, concerns about whether the IBF champion can continue to make the weight have led to doubts that he can achieve undisputed glory.
Nevertheless, this weekend sees Ennis, 33-0 (29 KOs), tasked with a first career unification clash as he opts to remain at welterweight and collide with WBA titleholder, Eimantas Stanionis, 15-0 (9 KOs), in what could prove to be the next step of his potential undisputed run.
Ennis was upgraded from IBF interim champion when Crawford was stripped of the full IBF title back in October 2023. He has since gone on to make two defences in his hometown of Philadelphia. The first bout was an authoritative fifth-round stoppage of David Avanesyan, followed by an underwhelming points win in a rematch with Karen Chukhadzhian.
Following that latest defence, many fans presumed that Ennis’ move to super-welterweight was imminent. His below-par performance was assumed to be due to issues making weight rather than a lack or loss of the necessary skills that we have seen in previous fights.
Yet Ennis is determined to at least unify the titles, if not claim all four. He faces the quietly rated and undefeated Lithuanian Stanionis in a bid to prove that he is both the man to beat at welterweight and able to continue to compete in the division.
Meanwhile, former European amateur champion Stanionis was upgraded to full WBA champion in August, having won the WBA Regular title against Radzhab Butaev in April 2022. He has fought just once in the three years that have followed that Butaev bettering.
That lone outing came against Gabriel Maestre last May, when the front-footed 30-year-old went the full 12 rounds and scored a wide unanimous decision win. Given his inactivity, that rust-shedding experience should serve him well.
‘Jaunutis’ can be expected to bring the fight to Ennis and thus make for an exciting contest. Still, Ennis’ career-best performance against the similarly aggressive Sergey Lipinets should serve as a warning that pressure should be applied intelligently as well as relentlessly.
However, Stanionis may feel as though he needs to make Ennis work as much as possible if he is banking on his opponent’s difficulties with the scales outside of the ring.
There will be nowhere for Ennis to hide any frailties at the weight come Saturday night, as questions will be answered and doubts will either be silenced or confirmed. I think the style and inactivity of Stanionis will favour Ennis despite the weight concerns.
I can see Boots getting him out of there between rounds 5-8 in a dominant performance. It promises to be an intriguing main event in Atlantic City, that can be watched live around the globe on DAZN.
