Promoter Bob Arum reveals he is working on a deal for Teofimo Lopez to face Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis on March 1, 2025 in a joint PPV on DAZN and ESPN.
Arum’s plan
Lance Pugmire @pugboxing reports that Arum is negotiating the fight for Teofimo (21-1, 13 KOs) to move up to welterweight to challenge ‘Boots’ Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) for his IBF 147-lb belt . It is doubtful whether the fight will be made.
Teofimo recently spoke about the fact that he “King of the 140-lb division” and offers Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia a 55-45 split. The silence was deafening, and nothing came back.
If Arum offers Boots Ennis a similar deal, it will be interesting to see if he accepts it. His career is not looking too good after recent miserable performances back for Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing.
A desperate move for Teofimo
From Top Rank’s perspective, it is understandable why they let Teofimo walk the plank for this risky fight; his career took off. They need to do something with Lopez because things are looking desperate. He earned losses to Jamaine Ortiz and Sandor Martin to go along with his loss to George Kambosos. He looks shot.
If they don’t put Teofimo in at Boots, he’ll probably lose to one of these no-name fringe contenders they keep beating him against.
It would be the first major fight for two-division world champion Lopez, 27, since his victory over Vasily Lomachenko on October 17, 2020. It’s been four years since Teofimo Lomachenko upset by 12-round unanimous decision, and this is the listless fights he’s had since:
– Steve Claggett
– Jamaine Ortiz
– Josh Taylor
– Sandor Martin
– Pedro Campa
– George Kambosos Jr
None of those six fights resonated with the boxing public, and Lopez has seen his once sky-high popularity plummet to the point where he is largely irrelevant. Teofimo is seen by fans as a strange character, sounding confused in interviews and inconsistent in his performances. He fights as if he has no more senses.
Is Ennis a Bust?
If Ennis is anything like he was in his recent fight against Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9th, Teofimo has an excellent chance to beat him because he gets hit too much. Karen made Boots look like a novice and schooled him for nine rounds before passing out.
Hearn is likely to pursue the idea of matching Ennis against Lopez because that might be as good as it gets for him before his contract ends. He must regret signing Boots for missing Hearn in his two fights against Chukhadzhian and David Avanesyan. If Ennis loses, at least it will be against a name fighter.
Boots made matters worse by choosing not to accept the offer for the fight with Vergil Ortiz Jr. for his WBC 154-pound interim title on the massive February 22 card in Riyadh. This move showed Ennis’ lack of ambition and risk-taking ability.
