Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis are close to an IBF and WBO welterweight unification fight for two belts in April.
Ennis-Stanionis in April?
IBF champion Boots Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) will be facing the first high-quality opponent of his career if he does, and it will be interesting for fans to see how he responds to the power and pressure of WBA 147. -lb champion Stanionis (15-0, 9 KO).
If the fight takes place, it will be a Matchroom show on DAZN. Whether it will be put on PPV is debatable because Stanionis is unknown. Boots has yet to reach that level due to his woeful opposition throughout his nine-year professional career.
Ennis, 27, received a lot of criticism for his decision not to take the fight against interim WBC junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. on the Feb. 22 card of Turki Al-Sheikh on DAZN PPV in Riyadh. Boots has been rumored to have been offered a career payday $8 million, which is a crazy amount for him to turn down.
But he wants to unify the welterweight division to collect all four belts before moving, and he has promised to finish what he started, come hell or high water. Hope Jaron doesn’t live to regret it later.
Can Boots Handle Stanionis?
“Will we finally get that Welterweight Unification matchup we’ve been waiting for?” said Bernardo Osuna to the State of boxingThey are talking about Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis wanting a unification fight against WBA champion Eimantas Stanionis or one of the other champions.
“They’re definitely coming close, and it’s a really tough test for Boots. I’m looking at a fight against Eimantas Stanionis, who I think is one of the most underrated fighters in all of boxing,” said Mike Coppinger. “He lost all of 2023 after several fights against Vergil Ortiz were canceled, and I’m told they’re getting close to an agreement for a fight in April. No deal yet, though.
“This is a big step for Boots, who has not beaten anyone hard. Stanionis brings the pressure; he can punch, and I hope that the fight will be done. It will be a Matchroom show on DAZN,” said Coppinger.
It’s a big step for Ennis for who he has faced during the last nine years, and it is not certain that he will win this fight. Stanionis is a good fighter with power, and Boots is hit a lot in his fights. It depends on his offense being his defense, and those types of fighters don’t do well in the long run.
Eventually, they meet someone with too much power, and they are defeated. What was surprising was how Ennis was lit up by Karen Chukhadzhian in their last fight on November 9, and he is not known for being a big puncher.
Finally Stepping Up
“It’s about time Boots got in the ring with somebody,” said Tim Bradley. “I can tell you that. He had many opportunities to put in the ring with many guys, Vergil Ortiz to this, but he chose not. This is obviously his plan from the beginning. He wants to unify the titles against Stanionis.
Bradley is right. It was about time Ennis finally fought someone because he sure looked weak as he turned down the fight against Vergil Jr on February 22nd.
“I finished studying film four days ago. It’s going to be an exciting fight,” Bradley said. “Stanionis is an advanced fighter, very aggressive. He throws punches in bunches. He can punch hard with either hand, but also Boots. But the difference is that Stanionis, I don’t think he understands trigonometry.
“He doesn’t understand angles. He doesn’t understand how to put himself in a different position, because all he knows is gas and no brake,” Bradley said of Stanionis’ shortcomings.
