Eddie Hearn says he was given his marching orders by Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to set up unification fights against other belt holders at 147. Hearn’s instructions from undefeated IBF welterweight champion Ennis (33- 0, 29 KOs) for 2025. it does not look good, however, because the champions want big money.
Hearn says Teofimo Lopez or a move up to 154 for a fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr. it is possible if a unification fight cannot be done for Ennis. We’ll see if either of those things happen for Ennis in the new year.
It will take some money from Hearn for him to lure any of the welterweight champions to fight Ennis.
Greedy welterweight?
Many of them are probably waiting and hoping that Turki Alalahikh will offer them a fight on their Riyadh Season cards. They would happily fight for millions, making an easy defense against a soft opponent rather than lose their title against Boots for little money.
“They are strict instructions from (Ennis) are, ‘I want to unify, and if I can’t unify, either move to 154 and fight (Vergil) Ortiz, or I could fight Teofimo Lopez.’ I like the Lopez fight, but everything what he wants to do is unify,” said Eddie Hearn Fight Hub TV about the Ennis of Jaron ‘Boots.
Boots may need to decide whether to move up or stay at 147 to face Teofimo soon because it doesn’t look promising for his promoter Hearn to set up the unification fights he’s scrapping. Turki could help Ennis’ situation, and we’ll see if that happens next year.
Ennis’ poor performance against Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9 was another reason her popularity did not take off. Unlike other fighters like Gervonta Davis, Boots can’t fight anyone and expect fans to pay to see him.
147 or 154?
He needs the big battles that have eluded him so far. He would have helped himself if he had taken the offer to move up to 154 to challenge Vergil Ortiz Jr. for his waist. Ennis is still set to capture the 147 lb belts.
We want to follow in the footsteps of Terence Crawford, but it took years to do so. Even then, it didn’t happen until he was in his mid-30s.
