Eddie Hearn is open to matching Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis against aging former champions Jermell Charlo and Errol Spence in 2026. He predicts they’ll have a high “number” they’ll ask to face ‘Boots’ (35-0, 31 KOs) because they really don’t want that loss on their records.
Charlo & Spence on the radar
Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) is the least likely option for WBA interim junior middleweight champion Ennis, as he has not fought since his ninth-round TKO loss to Terence Crawford on July 29, 2024. It will take a lot of bravery on 35-year-old Spence’s part to jump straight up against a ‘B’.
Hearn’s first choice for Ennis’ next fight in 2026 will be against one of these world champions at 154:
- Sebastian Fundora – WBC
- Abass Baraou – WBA
- Xander Zayas – WBO
- Bakhram Murtazaliev – IBF
If Hearn can’t get either of those fights, he’ll aim for a “tent” fight Vergil Ortiz Jr., the WBC interim 154-lb champion.
Jermell: Two years of rust
“The key to ‘Boots’ is the legacy, the championship, and it’s the belt holders,” Eddie Hearn told Brian Custer’s. channel on YouTube. “So, you’ve got Fundora, Zayas, which is a great fight. You’ve got Murtazaliev. You’ve got Abass Baraou, who just won the WBA title. But then you’ve got the other guys who don’t have a belt, but it’s a marquee fight. Vergil Ortiz, Errol Spence, (Jermell) Charlo’s name came up as well.
Taking on 35-year-old former undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell (35-2-1, 19 KOs) will see Ennis receive plenty of criticism from boxing fans. It will appear that Ennis is attacking the old people’s home, drive a victim away from the infirmary to pad his record with.
Charlo needs to show that he is still capable of fighting after two years of inactivity and three years since his last win. He looked so utterly awful in the no-effort he gave in his last fight against Canelo Alvarez on September 30, 2023.
Getting a fight against Baraou would probably be easiest for Hearn for ‘Boots’, but it wouldn’t generate nearly as much interest as it would if he matched up against one of the other belt holders.
“You can imagine the number”
“Errol Spence and Charlo, you can imagine what number they’re going to ask for in the fight because they don’t really want that fight on their resume,” Hearn said.
To bring in Spence or Jermell, Hearn could not afford to be stingy and tight with the money. He will have to dig deep to tempt one of those fighters. If Turki Alalshikh doesn’t get involved, which he probably wouldn’t, it will come down to Hearn.
Last updated on 22/10/2025
