Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis must ensure he is not kept out of the loop for his negotiations for a mega-fight against Teofimo Lopez in early 2025. Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) felt he was blindsided by being offered a fight against Vergil. Ortiz Jr. on February 22.
The “Out Of The Loop” excuse
This time, IBF welterweight champion Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) should be involved, as a bout against Teofimo (21-1, 13 KOs) would boost his slow-moving career.
Fans already don’t believe Boots’ excuse for choosing not to fight Vergil, seeing it as a case of old fashioned fear. His last opponent, Karen Chukhadzhian, defeated him on November 9, and Ortiz Jr. could do much worse to him. Ennis’ excuse for being kept out of the loop with his team fell flat with fans, who saw him as lacking courage after what happened to him against Karen.
Lopez shows he’s not afraid to take on the challenge of moving up to 147. It seems bad that Ennis wasn’t willing to do the same thing by going up to 154 for one fight to beat Vergil Jr. to challenge His Excellency Turki for his WBC interim title. Alalshikh’s show in Riyadh on February 22.
Teofimo started his career at lightweight and moved up to 140 in 2022. Teo’s only had five fights at light welterweight, and now he makes the jump to 147 to challenge Boots. It is impressive.
The downside to Ennis taking this fight against Lopez is that if he gets beat or struggles to win, his stock will drop even further than it is now after his decision to not take the Vergil Jr. contest. It will be hard to see Boots coming back from a loss or poor performance against Teofimo and becoming a popular guy.
Prove doubters wrong
Lance Pugmire reports that Teofimo’s promoter, Bob Arum, is negotiating with Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn to schedule the fight for a joint DAZN/ESPN PPV event early next year. Now that Terence Crawford has moved up in weight, this is the best fight that can be made for Boots at 147.
We have to wait and see if this battle is fought because it still needs to be negotiated. Teofimo may choose to play A-side with Ennis, which will diminish any chances of the game. Boots sees himself as the King of the 147-lb division, which he is now in terms of talent. Conor Benn, Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia are more popular than Ennis because they have personalities.
Ennis wants to be a star, but he can’t do that unless he negotiates the Teofimo fight and faces Haney, Ryan and Benn.
