IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis continues to cry about the other 147-lb belt-holders not wanting to step up and fight him.
Philadelphia native Boots is starting to sound helpless and unable to make the obvious move that is required of himself. Ennis needs to move up to 154 to get the big fights that are eluding him and will continue to elude him at 147.
It’s so obvious what Ennis needs to do that even a blind man could see it. He needs to give up on his hopeless dream of becoming undisputed because it’s NOT happening in this lifetime.
Ennis is defending his IBF belt against Karen Chukhadzhian this Saturday, November 9th, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The event will be shown live on DAZN. Boots’ promoter, Eddie Hearn, added WBC super flyweight champion Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez to his undercard, defending against Pedro Guevara.
Throughout the build-up to his fight, 27-year-old Boots has complained about the other champions not wanting to fight him at welterweight. He’s sounded like a broken record, and it’s been tiresome.
“That’s my goal. All I want right now is the belts. They are playing around. Maybe I’ll be at 154, or maybe not. We’ll see,” said Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to Fight Hub TV about whether his focus is to capture the titles at 147.
“Hopefully, some of these guys will step up and sign on the dotted line. All I want is these belts. If I’m victorious against Chukhadzhian, it’s them belts. Tell them to sign them papers. We got to make these fights happen. It’s the fight that everyone wants to see. They don’t want to see any other fights but me. Barrios, Brian [Norman], and Stanionis, let’s make these fights happen,” said Ennis.
“I’ve been chasing everybody. I’ve been chasing Bud; I’ve been chasing Errol Spence, Keith Thurman, and Shawn Porter. You got to ask Bud Crawford,” said Ennis when asked why he’s not fighting Terence Crawford.
The reason Crawford and the other fighters haven’t shown any interest in fighting Ennis is that he’s not creating his own path by staying active, fighting often, and facing quality opposition. When Ennis signed with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, he was supposed to be getting all these opportunities for important fgihts. He hasn’t. Nothing has changed since Ennis inked with Hearn, and it doesn’t look like it will if he stays at 147.
Hearn couldn’t negotiate a unification deal for Ennis against WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. because of money. Norman Jr. wanted a half million more than what Hearn was offering, and that was enough to destroy the deal. That failure by Hearn to negotiate the fight for Ennis could be a prelude to what we’ll be seeing in 2025 and beyond. Hearn can’t or won’t put out the money to make these fights happen. So, either Ennis gives up on the idea of becoming undisputed, or he’s going to be a very frustrated person when none of these fights happen.
“I think it’s great for boxing to have two top fighters on the same card. Us two together, it’s going to be a powerful night come November 9th. I think it’s great,” said Ennis about him and Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez sharing the same card this Saturday night on DAZN at the Wells Fargo Center. “We’re going to put on a show for you guys.”
It’s decent for the fans to have Ennis and Bam Rodriguez on the same card this Saturday night, but there’s a reason. These are both mismatches that fans wouldn’t be interested in watching if either were headlining by themselves in their lackluster fights.
Bam Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) is defending his WBC super flyweight title against Pedro Guevara (42-4-1, 22 KOs) in the chief support bout, and that fight is not expected to be competitive. Guevara is 35 years old and recently lost to Carlos Cuadras by a 12-round split decision last year on November 17th. Cuadras is a fighter Bam Rodriguez beat by a 12-round unanimous decision two years ago in a one-sided fight on February 5th, 2022.
