IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis continues to whine about the other 147lb 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 required of himself. Ennis needs to move up to 154 to get the big fights that elude him and will continue to elude him at 147.
It is so clear what Ennis has to do that even a blind man can see it. He has to give up on his hopeless dream of going unchallenged because it is NOT happening in this lifetime.
Ennis defends his IBF belt against Karen Chukhadzhian this Saturday, November 9, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The event will be shown live on DAZN. Boots’ promoter Eddie Hearn has added WBC super flyweight champion Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez to his undercard as he defends against Pedro Guevara.
In the lead-up to his fight, 27-year-old Boots complained about the other champions not wanting to fight him at welterweight. He is sounded like a broken recordand it was tiring.
“That’s my goal. All I want now are the belts. They play around. Maybe I’ll be at 154, or maybe not. We’ll see,” said Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Fight Hub TV on 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 prevail against Chukhadzhian, it’s their belts. Tell them to sign their papers. We have to make these fights happen. It’s the fight everyone wants to see. They don’t want to see any other fights than me. Barrios, Brian (Norman) and Stanionis, let’s make these fights happen,” Ennis said.
“I chased everyone. I chased Bud; I raced Errol Spence, Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter. You have to ask Bud Crawford,” Ennis said when asked why he doesn’t fight Terence Crawford.
The reason Crawford and the other fighters have shown no interest in fighting Ennis is that he is not forging his own path by staying active, fighting regularly and facing quality opposition. When Ennis signed with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, he was supposed to get all these opportunities for important fights. He didn’t. Nothing has changed since Ennis inks with Hearn, and it doesn’t look like it will if he stays at 147.
Hearn was unable to secure a unification deal for Ennis against WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr due to money. not negotiate. Norman Jr. wanted half a million more than Hearn offered, and that was enough to kill the deal. The failure by Hearn to negotiate the fight for Ennis could be a prelude to what we will see in 2025 and beyond. Hearn can’t or won’t put up the money to make these fights happen. So, either Ennis gives up on the idea of going uncontested, 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. The two of us together, it’s going to be a powerful night on November 9th. I think it’s great,” Ennis said of 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.”
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 contradictions that fans wouldn’t be interested in watching if either was on their own in their lackluster fights.
Bam Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) defends his WBC super flyweight title against Pedro Guevara (42-4-1, 22 KOs) in the co-main event, and that fight is not expected to be competitive. Guevara is 35 years old and most recently lost to Carlos Cuadras via a 12-round split decision on November 17 of last year. Cuadras is a fighter who beat Bam Rodriguez two years ago with a 12-round unanimous decision in a one-sided fight on February 5, 2022.
