IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and WBA champ Eimantas Stanionis both weighed in successfully today at the weigh-in for their unification fight this Saturday, April 12th, live on DAZN, with the event starting at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Weigh-in Success
– Ennis 146 1/2 vs. Stanionis 146 3/4
“He said, ‘I really want to unify. That’s one of the reasons I signed with Matchroom. I thought you could make the big fights,’” said Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV bout what Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis had said to him recently when he asked him if he wants to move up to 154.
Ennis should have been assertive with Hearn, telling him that it’s a better career move for him to move up to junior middleweight to chase bigger fights than stay at 147, fighting the likes of Eimantas Stanionis and Brian Norman Jr. Unifying against those guys isn’t as impressive as it would be for Ennis to go up to 154 to face the killers in that division. Welterweight is more of a hiding place for Jaron to avoid the dangerous guys at 154.
Doubts About Ennis
“There was a lot of pressure to make the [Stanionis unification clash] fight. Respect to him for wanting to fight one of the best in the division. This is the right fight for Jaron Ennis to show everybody that the hype is real. Stanionis is a phenomenal fighter,” said Hearn.
Stanionis is NOT the fight that will prove Ennis isn’t a hype job. The fights that will prove that are Brian Norman Jr., Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez. If Ennis can beat those fighters, he’ll have proven he’s not hype in a weak division. He came along at the right time when Errol Spence, Ternence Crawford, and Vergil Ortiz Jr. had all moved up to 154, which is where he should be.
“If Boots performs like he did against Chukhadzhian or if he’s not quite the fighter that we think he is, he’s going to, it’s going to be a very tough night’s work at the Boardwalk Hall. I believe he’ll make a statement and show the world. ”
There are no IFs involved about Jaron Ennis not being “the fighter that we” thought he was. It’s not just the two Karen Chukhadzhian fights that showed that. There were also the David Avaneysan and Roiman Villa bouts, which showed that Ennis isn’t the phenom that we’d thought initially.
Ennis could still win on Saturday, but only because Stanionis isn’t a great fighter and is badly flawed. We saw that in Stanionis’s grueling clashes against Gabriel Maestre, Radzhab Butaev, and Thomas Dulorme.
Ortiz Jr. Fight Declined
“He’s the world champion at 147. The fight was offered at 154 or no title [correction: WBC interim junior middleweight title would have been at stake], and he wanted to defend his world title and unify,” said Hearn when asked why Ennis declined an offer to fight WBC interim 154-lb champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. on the February 22nd card in Riyadh.
“He said, ‘I’ll fight Vergil Ortiz, and I’ll fight Crawford, but I really want to unify. That’s been my dream.’ He’s never beaten a world champion to be a world champion,” Hearn said about Ennis. “Boots is clearly about legacy. I think if we hadn’t delivered the Stanionis fight, then we may have been looking back at the Ortiz fight going, ‘Maybe we should have taken that.’
“He said, ‘I believe in you. Do you think you can get me a unification?’ I said, ‘Yeah,’ and then he said, ‘Let’s do it.’ I thought, ‘S***,’ and then I went out, and I got it thankfully. So, it all worked out perfectly in the end,” said Hearn.
Last Updated on 04/11/2025
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