IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis claims he’ll be “stronger than ever” for his clash against WBA champ Eimantas Stanionis on April 12th because there won’t be the IBF’s 10-lb rehydration rule in place for their unification fight at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
A Champions Denial
Boots, 28, says everything will be different now because this is the first time in two years that he won’t have the IBF’s rehydration clause sapping his strength. Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) seems to blame his recent two poor performances against Karen Chulhadzhian on the 10-lb rehydration rather than a lack of talent. Ennis is unable to confront the truth. He’s not as good as he thinks he is.
Karen made Ennis look bad last November in Philadelphia, outboxing and even out-slugging him in front of his fans at the Wells Fargo Center. Before the fight, Boots had bragged about how he was going to “have my fun” and score a knockout.
He’d said that he’d struggled so badly in his first fight against the Ukrainian Chukhzadzhian in 2023 because he was trying too hard to stop him. However, in the rematch, Boots looked positively miserable while trying to have his “fun,” and he was lucky to win. After the fight, Ennis seemed gloomy at the post-fight press conference. He realized that he’d met his match, and he wasn’t as good as he thought.
WBA welterweight champion Stanionis (15-0, 9 KOs) has a real chance in this fight if he can duplicate the success that Karen had against Boots. What he showed is that Ennis can be outboxed, and picked off with power shots. The little bit of movement that Chukhadzhian used had Ennis mentally tied in knots, not knowing what to do.
Stronger than Ever?
“That’s the goal [to be stronger than ever at 147]. People don’t realize that I’ve got the IBF [welterweight title]. I’ve always had a 10-lb rehydration clause. I’ve been doing it for two years, and people don’t understand that either,” said Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to Shawn Porter’s site, arguing that he’ll be stronger than usual for his unification fight against WBA 147-lb champion Eimantas Stanionis on April 12th because there won’t be the IBF’s 10-lb rehydration clause to weaken him for the match.
“This time, I won’t have a rehydration clause. I’ll be able to [fully rehydrate]. It’s a unification. When you have a unification, you don’t have a secondary rehydration clause,” Boots continued. “And it’s for the Ring Magazine, so that trumps everything. That trumps the rehydration. I’ll be the best I’ve ever been, the strongest I’ve ever been,” said Ennis.
Last Updated on 03/08/2025
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