Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis must move to 154 to take advantage of the money fights against fighters like Vergil Ortiz Jr., Terence Crawford, Sebastian Fundora, and Tim Tszyu. He doesn’t need to stay at the empty 147 division with his trivial goal of becoming undisputed.
We just saw a very poor-looking Vergil get dropped twice and given a win over WBC Junior middleweight champion Serhii Bohachuk last Saturday.
Vergil Ortiz: Easy Target
That performance showed that Crawford would easily beat Vergil Ortiz if His Excellency Turki Alalshikh chose to make that fight next. Once Crawford beats Vergil, his popularity will plummet, and he won’t be worth anything for Boots Ennis. It’s bad
If Boots Ennis can get to Vergil Ortiz before Crawford, he can destroy him in a big money fight and then use his popularity to face all the top names at 154. It doesn’t matter if Vergil avoids Ennis at 154 if he moves up because many other well-known fighters will fight him in that division. Vergil’s promoters at Golden Boy will likely keep protecting him until they get the Crawford match, but that’s okay. Ennis can fight other notable fighters at 154.
Giving up on the 147 is priority one for Boots Ennis because he’s spinning his wheels in this division. If he or his promoters lack confidence in his ability to fight at 154, it’s a good idea to stay at 147.
That’s the conclusion that some fans are starting to believe about Boots because he and his promoters must know that his popularity won’t increase by staying at 147 to become undisputed. They also must know that he’ll make less money staying at welterweight than moving up to 154, where they would have many more options.
Leaving 147 Behind is Crucial
Boots Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) needs to forget his superficial goal of becoming an undisputed champion at 147 because that will not further his career, transform him into a superstar, or earn him a lot of money.
Boots will spend 1-3 years of his career trying to become the undisputed champion at welterweight, but it won’t turn him into a star because the fighters he’ll face to win the last three remaining belts aren’t popular enough for him to get anything from beating them.
Ennis and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, think he can be built into a star like Crawford by becoming undisputed at 147. They do not understand that Crawford didn’t become popular because he won undisputed titles. He became famous because of his win over Errol Spence. If Crawford had moved up weight to 154, he would have become popular much faster in his career.
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