Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis says 2025 will be his “big” year. He is looking to unify the welterweight division.
Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) has much to prove to fans to live down his reputation for avoiding the fight against WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. on the February 22nd card on DAZN PPV in Riyadh.
Rebuilding The Brand
The damage has already been done with Ennis’ decision not to agree to the fight against Ortiz Jr. at 154. The boxing public thought he was afraid and chose to stay at welterweight out of safety to avoid a potential loss.
Boots says he wants to collect all the belts at 147 one by one, which could be nearly impossible to do without Turki Al-Shiekh lending his financial support. The other champions aren’t going to want to Ennis and lose their titles. It’s not worth it financially.
Hearn had rotten luck trying to set up unification fights for Boots in 2024, and he doesn’t think he can do any better in 2025 without Turki’s help. WBO champion Brian Norman Jr. wanted a better offer to agree to a fight against Jaron but didn’t get it, so he opted not to take the fight.
Instead, Ennis defended against his IBF mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9th and looked horrible, humiliated by the highly technical fighter. Although Boots won the fight by a 12-round unanimous decision, he looked so bad that it was seen as a loss in the eyes of fans.
The Murtazaliev Option
The best thing Boots could do to rebuild his brand with the fans is to scrap his idea of unifying the welterweight division and instead move up to 154 to challenge IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev for his belt. That would be an easy fight for his promoter to make, and it would help restore his popularity.
If Ennis moves up to 154 in 2025, he can show fans that he’s not scared to fight the best. That’s the important thing. Staying at 147 to beat the three weak champions won’t do a thing for Boots, and he’ll gain nothing by doing so.
Big 2025 ahead for 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬 ⏳ @JaronEnnis pic.twitter.com/wjyNdPN549
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) January 3, 2025
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