A huge-looking Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) successfully defended his IBF welterweight title with a fifth-round stoppage win over David Avanesyan (30-4-1, 18 KOs) on Saturday night in front of a large pro-Ennis card at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
The ringside doctor called after the fifth round. The fight stopped because Avanesyan looked in bad shape, with swelling around his left eye and cheek. Ennis had knocked Avanesyan down with a left hand in the fifth, and he was getting beaten up by the massive-looking Boots.
Despite winning, Boots got hit a lot in the fight and ate some big shots from Avanesyan in every round. In the second, Ennis landed a low blow that had Avanesyan down for at least three minutes recovering. The low blows continued from Ennis in every round of the fight, but not quite as blatant.
From rounds three on, the fight was fought at close quarters, as Avanesyan crowed Boots, smothering his power and hitting him with many short punches.
It was clear that Avanesyan planned this strategy because it took away a lot of Boots’s leverage on his shots, and he couldn’t get the maximum power that he normally does. Avanesyan’s shorter arms allowed him to land with good power in close to hit Boots Ennis with hard shots.
Ennis took the punches well, but the number of times his head was snapped back from the impact looked bad. It was fortunate for Boots that the fight ended after five rounds. If this match had gone into the later rounds, he might have been hurt by one of Avanesyan’s heavy shots.
Ennis’ defense looked as poor as it had been in his previous fight against Roiman Villa, and his offense saved it. If it had been Terence Crawford that Ennis was fighting, he might have been in trouble.
Ennis looked huge tonight, gaining a lot of weight after rehydrating overnight. He wasn’t well-defined Boots Ennis fans had seen from him in the past. He was smooth-looking and carrying a lot of size from the year he’d been out of the ring.
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