Eddie Hearn says he wants Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to fight a “gatekeeper” in his debut at 154 in August, and then fight WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz before the end of the year. Hearn would make that fight next for August 16th, but he was told that he wouldn’t be ready for that date.
Ennis’s 154-lb Debut Plan
Hearn isn’t saying who Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) will fight next, but it’s got to be someone good enough to get him ready for Vergil. He believes that Boots will be stronger at 154 because he won’t have to put his body through hell to make weight like he’d been doing at 147.
“What you saw against Stanionis was a depleted guy, and it’s just frightening what this guy is going to do when he’s not depleted. That’s why I think he’s made the decision and said, ‘You need to see the best of me,’ and it’s time,” said Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV about Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis’ decision to move up to 154.
It was strange to see Ennis boxing Eimantas Stanionis rather than slugging like he normally does with his opponents. That was a clear signal that Boots didn’t feel strong enough to stand and punch with Eimantas after what he went through to make weight at 147.
“I don’t think people are going to be screaming to fight him [Ennis] in terms of the champions, but now he’s built that profile. You saw at Riyadh Season that they were all over him to fight over there, and we want to do that,” said Hearn. “We want to work with His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh].”
The champions at 154 are not going to want to fight Ennis unless the money is huge, because they know that they’ll have little chance of winning. That would require Turki’s involvement to lure the belt-holders to want to defend against Boots. Aside from that, Ennis may need to work his way into a mandatory position to force the champions to fight him.
Gatekeeper First for Ennis
“We’ve also seen what Boots is building in the U.S. For me, you need that world-class gatekeeper, that top-five guy, and certainly a top-10 guy to test the waters at 154 physically, and then I think we should make the Vergil Ortiz fight,” said Hearn. “It’s a massive fight. We expect to fight in August.”
If Boots Ennis is going to fight a “gatekeeper” next at 154 to prepare himself for Vergil Jr, he should focus on fighting Israil Madrimov or Erickson Lubin. Those two fighters would give Ennis a good test to get him ready for what Ortiz Jr. is going to bring. It’s useless for Ennis to fight someone at the bottom of the top 15 because that won’t prepare him.
“We actually said in the Riyadh Season guys that we could fight Vergil Ortiz on August 16, but he wasn’t ready or the date didn’t work. I don’t know what it was. I think we’ll fight in August, and then we’re up for Vergil Ortiz. I think it’s a brilliant fight, and I think it’s the best fight in the division,” said Hearn.
Ennis vs. Ortiz would potentially be the biggest fight for Boots in the 154-lb division, but not the toughest. Bakhram Murtazaliev, Sebastian Fundora, and Israil Madrimov might be tougher fights for Ennis than Vergil Jr. The style Vergil Jr. uses is made to order for Boots Ennis, and he’s coming off back-to-back grueling fights against Madrimov and Serhii Bohachuk.
Ennis’s Multi-Division Future
“You’ll see him dominate at 154, and also at 160 and maybe even 168,” said Hearn about Boots Ennis. “He’s going to be a three or four-division world champion. Wait until you see Jaron Ennis properly fueled up and not having to go through that fight week. He made the weight better in the Stanionis fight than he did in the Chukhadzhian fight.”
We don’t know if Boots will dominate everybody at junior middleweight, because he would still need to go through these fighters to do that:
– Bakhram Murtazaliev
– Sebastian Fundora
– Tim Tszyu
– Vergil Ortiz Jr.
– Erickson Lubin
– Israil Madrimov
– Xander Zayas
– Serhii Bohachuk
– Jorge Garcia Perez
– Keith Thurman
“He’s shrinking himself down, and physically, you can’t be 100% when you’re doing that to your body. Now’s the time to see the best Jaron Ennis. We’re ready to make that fight at the end of 2025,” said Hearn about the Vergil Jr. vs. Boots fight. “We’ve got a great relationship with Golden Boy and DAZN. They love that fight. Let’s see what we can do,” said Hearn.
Ennis has looked drained at his weigh-ins for the last two years, and he should have moved up rather than putting himself through torture in a dead division. Once Terence Crawford moved up to 154 in 2024, Boots should have followed him. That was the only name guy in the division. Errol Spence stopped fighting after his loss to Crawford. So, it was pointless for Boots to continue to deplete himself to make 147 to fight guys like Eimantas Stanoonis and Karen Chukhadzhian.
Last Updated on 06/13/2025
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