Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis needs to make sure he is not kept out of the loop for his negotiations for a mega-fight against Teofimo Lopez in early 2025. Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) felt that he was blind to be offered a fight against Vergil. Ortiz Jr. on February 22.
The “Out Of The Loop” excuse.
This time, IBF welterweight champion Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) should be involved because a match against Teofimo (21-1, 13 KOs) will slowly boost his career.
Fans don’t believe Boots’ excuse for choosing not to fight Vergil, seeing it as a case of ancient fear. His last opponent, Karen Chukhadzhian, humiliated him on November 9, and Ortiz Jr. it could do a lot worse for him. Ennis’ excuse for being kept out of the loop with his team fell flat with fans, who saw it as a lack of courage after what happened to him against Karen.
Lopez shows that he is not afraid to take on the challenge of moving up to 147. It seems bad that Ennis was not willing to do the same thing by going up to 154 for a fight to challenge Vergil Jr. Alalshikh’s show in Riyadh on February 22.
Teofimo started his career at lightweight and moved to 140 in 2022. Teo has only had five fights at lightweight, and now he made the jump to 147 to challenge Boots. It is impressive.
The downside of Ennis taking this fight against Lopez is that if he is beaten or fights to win, his stock will drop even more than it is now after his decision to not take the Vergil Jr. contest would be difficult to see Boots come back from a loss or a poor showing against Teofimo and become a popular guy.
Prove the doubts wrong
Lance Pugmire reports that Teofimo’s promoter Bob Arum is in negotiations with Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn to schedule the fight for a joint DAZN/ESPN PPV event early next year. Now that Terence Crawford has moved up in weight, it is the best fight that can be made for Boots at 147.
We have to wait and see if this fight takes place because it is still to be negotiated. Teofimo could choose to play in the A-side with Ennis, which will destroy any chance of the match. Boots sees himself as the King of the 147-lb division, which he is right now in terms of talent. Conor Benn, Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia are more popular than Ennis because they have personalities.
Ennis wants to be a star, but he can’t do that unless he negotiates the Teofimo fight and faces Haney, Ryan and Benn.
