Coach Stephen Edwards says Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis isn’t ducking anyone. He thinks it’s stuff “going on behind the scenes, and his promoters are trying to understand what they can get for him at 147.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
IBF welterweight champion Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) isn’t helping himself by turning down fights against WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Teofimo Lopez. Those would have been huge for Boots.
Boots could have fought Vergil on Turki Al-Shiekh’s card on February 22nd in Riyadh, and it would have been a big payday for him. Fans believe Ennis ducked Vergil Jr and didn’t want to take the risky match for fear of getting beaten.
Boots’ decision not to fight Vergil Jr. comes at a bad time for him. He just had a terrible performance against Karen Chukhadzhian in their rematch on November 9th, and some think his confidence is gone.
The Ducking Debate
“There are fighters that duck behind their management not to fight fighters, but I don’t think it applies to him,” said Stephen Edwards to YSM Sports Media about his belief that Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis isn’t ducking guys.
“I don’t think he’s ducking anybody. I just think there’s a lot of things going on behind the scenes amongst, and they’re just trying to figure out who they can get in the ring, and he knows his days are numbers at 147,” Stephen continued about ‘Boots.’
“I don’t think he’s saying, ‘I’m afraid to fight this guy.’ I just think a lot of things on the business side that aren’t flowing too smoothly for him. He’s got a lot going on. His team has just got to get those guys in the ring,” said Edwards.
Boots obviously isn’t ducking anyone at 147 because there’s no one talented enough for him to want to avoid them. But it sure does look like he ducked WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. when that fight was offered to him recently. Ennis said he wanted to stay at 147 to unify, but his situation there isn’t promising.
Ennis reportedly turned down a career-high payday to fight Vergil Jr. for the February 22nd career, which looks bad on his part.
Edwards’ Defense
“If he gets a unification against Brian Norman or a fight against Mario Barrios. Every time I see Conor Benn, they keep talking about Barrios. So, I know there’s some kind of conflict there when you’ve got a guy that’s in your promotional stable, and one guy [Benn] is trying to get a fight.
“That’s got to be tough on Boots. If Conor Benn gets the Mario Barrios to fight and Boots wants to unify, that’s tough,” said Edwards.
If Ennis’ promoter, Eddie Hearn, chooses to set up a fight between Conor Benn and WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios rather than helping him with a unification against Barrios, you can understand why that would upset him if he’s following what’s going on.
Boots said he didn’t know what happened when the Vergil Ortiz Jr. fight was offered to him at 154. Jaron was talking about what was going on behind the scenes without him being aware. If Boots’s management isn’t keeping him up to date, he’ll be surprised if Conor Benn gets the fight against Barrios instead of him.
If Conor gets that fight, Ennis needs to think about moving up to 154 because it means he likely will never get a chance to accomplish his goal of becoming undisputed at 147.
Assuming Conor is victorious against Barrios, he would use the WBC title for a big-money fight against Manny Pacquiao rather than facing Ennis. He’s not going to fight him because his chances of success would be slim, and he can make more money holding onto the WBC title to use it to lure 45-year-old Pacquiao. That belt will be the bait trap to lure Manny.
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