Jaron Ennis threw down the gauntlet to the other super-welterweight world champions when he captured the unified 154lb crown with a knockout win over Xander Zayas last month, and now female boxing icon Claressa Shields has predicted how a unification clash between Ennis and Sebastian Fundora would play out.
Ennis became a two-division unified world champion when he halted Zayas after seven rounds on June 27, opening the door to potential showdowns with Fundora, Josh Kelly and a long-awaited scrap with Vergil Ortiz Jr, despite the Texan not holding a title.
It is expected that Kelly will defend his IBF super-welterweight crown against Caoimhin Agyarko on Anthony Joshua’s undercard later this month, whilst recent rumours suggest that talks for a fight between Ennis and WBC ruler, Fundora, are ongoing.
Speaking to Fight Hub TV, Shields praised Ennis for his performance against Zayas, but warned that there were a couple of mistakes made that could be punished in a unification affair against ‘The Towering Inferno’.
“Had Boots quit against Xander, they would be calling Boots a quitter, but because Xander got stopped or quit against Boots they all like ‘oh, he got so much heart’. Be fair. Give Boots his dues. Right now, at 154lbs, he is the man.
“A big challenge for him will be Fundora. Fundora is a big challenge for anybody because of how long he is and his height, but Boots has enough in his arsenal, I feel, to beat Fundora, but he has got to be very, very smart.
“He can’t make the same mistakes that he made, getting hit with that straight jab and that right against Zayas, he can’t do that with Fundora. Cannot. Will not. He cannot do that. Also, he cannot do that fighting on wobbly legs either.
“The only thing that he did wrong, for me, was fighting after that. Him fighting on wobbly legs, he should have moved around, jabbed, whatever. Be smart.”
Ennis-Fundora is being mooted for either November or December, and boxing great Terence Crawford has revealed how he thinks that could play out.
