Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis has announced that he’s moving up to 154, predicting he’s going to become a “2X weight champion.” Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) says he wants all the smoke at junior middleweight, but didn’t mention any names. Which is disappointing considering the fact that he will be a wanted man at junior middleweight. Fighters from that division would open to a fight with him in an instant.
Fans are hoping he does a better job of picking the talented opposition at 154 because his resume at 147 is empty of names. He didn’t fight Brian Norman Jr. and Teofimo Lopez before leaving the welterweight division. Some felt that he ducked those two. Either way, fans are not happy with Boots as he never gave the fans what he wanted and seems to send smoke signals without taking action.
Take it slow?
Boots’ promoter Eddie Hearn said he’ll take a tune-up first at 154 against a “world-class gatekeeper” before looking to fight Vergil Ortiz Jr. in 2026 in a “massive” fight. People would prefer that Ennis fight a top-tier level fighter rather than a tomato can, like many of the fighters he’s fought during his nine-year pro career. With Terence Crawford moving up to 168 to fight to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his undisputed super middleweight championship, Jaron could go after the WBA title once it’s vacated or stripped from Crawford for abandoning it. Ennis would battle WBA interim 154-lb champion Yoenis Tellez for the vacant belt. That’s who his promoter, Eddie Hearn, should be targeting when he moves up in weight in August. But for some reason Hearn thinks he should take baby steps with Boots even though he can step right into a title fight immediately.
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Robert LaMar is a writer for Dice City Sports. You can follow him on X via @RobertLaMar26
