Jaron Ennis promised a moment. On Saturday night, he delivered one that could reshape a weight class in search of a spark.
The undefeated 27-year-old from Philadelphia who goes by Boots put on a blistering display at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, overwhelming Eimantas Stanionis with speed, sharpness and a full arsenal of punches en route to a sixth-round technical knockout. The win not only unified the IBF and WBA welterweight titles, but confirmed Ennis as the new face of a fractured division left adrift since Terence Crawford dismantled Errol Spence Jr nearly two years ago.
Stanionis, a tough and durable 30-year-old Lithuanian, had never been down in his professional career. But after being systematically broken down by the halfway point of the scheduled 12 rounds – his nose bloodied, his body battered, his rhythm disrupted – he never made it out for the seventh. His trainer, Marvin Somodio, waved it off from the corner after his fighter was dropped by a devastating combination to the body late in the sixth.
“I had a dream I was going to stop him like that,” Ennis said in the ring afterward. “And it came true.”
It was more than just a win. It was a statement. Ennis, long viewed as the next big thing at 147lb, had lacked the signature performance that would solidify his standing. A flat decision win over Karen Chukhadzhian last year raised more questions than answers. And after declining a chance to fight Vergil Ortiz Jr at 154lb, critics wondered whether the man once billed as the bogeyman of the division was pulling punches with his matchmaking. No one’s wondering anymore.
From the outset, Ennis controlled the ring with poise and menace. He used his jab to set traps, stifled Stanionis’s forward momentum with clean counters and switched stances from orthodox to southpaw with seamless fluency. By round four, he was targeting the body with increasing intent. In the fifth, he landed a fight-high 19 punches, 16 of them power shots, according to Compubox’s punch statistics. Stanionis had his moments, including two sharp overhand rights in the third, but Ennis simply absorbed and adjusted.
The sixth was the breaking point. After digging to the body with a series of thudding lefts, Ennis uncorked a flurry of blows that sent Stanionis down to one knee. Though he managed to beat the count and made it to the bell, the damage was done.
Somodio opted to protect his fighter from further punishment – a call that felt merciful to some, premature to others. Ennis, meanwhile, strutted to his corner at the end of the round, staring down his opponent in a moment of complete control. “He was taking a bad beating,” said Bozy Ennis, Boots’ father and longtime trainer. “You saw his face. Boots was going to knock him out if they kept going.”
Ennis, meanwhile, strutted to his corner at the end of the round, staring down his opponent in a moment of complete control. The seventh round never came. “When I fight top-of-the-line guys, you see a different me,” Ennis said. “When I’m fighting for something, it’s a whole different story. Can’t nobody mess with me.”
The stoppage gave Ennis his fourth successful title defense and extended his unbeaten record to 34 wins in 34 fights, all but four ending inside the distance. It also marked the most significant welterweight bout since Crawford v Spence and arguably the most important result in the post-Crawford era. Mario Barrios, who owns the WBC’s version of the 147lb title, and Brian Norman Jr, who holds the WBO strap, remain in the mix, but neither has proven themselves at this level. On Saturday night, Ennis and Stanionis were clearly No 1 and 2 – and only one of them looked the part. “I’m the best fighter in the world,” said Ennis when Barrios and Norman were mentioned. “Real talk. None of these fighters can mess with me.”
The setting, too, held meaning. Boardwalk Hall hadn’t played host to a major title fight since Sergey Kovalev beat down Bernard Hopkins in 2014. Atlantic City, once America’s east coast capital of championship boxing, has long been overshadowed by Las Vegas, New York and now Saudi Arabia. But with about 10,000 fans roaring and Philadelphia 76ers star Tyrese Maxey walking Ennis to the ring, it felt like a throwback to a bygone era, when Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis and Arturo Gatti took their turns beneath the 96-year-old venue’s magnificent vaulted ceilings.
The result also gave Philly something to rally behind. Ennis, who grew up in the Germantown section of the city and picked up the nickname Boots as a kid tagging along to his father’s gym, has now outgrown the label of rising prospect. This was not a win that hinted at potential. It was a coronation.
Stanionis, a 2016 Olympian beaten for the first time in 16 professional outings, had come in with pedigree of his own, having been elevated to full WBA champion after Crawford vacated the title. He came forward with purpose and tried to make it a physical fight – but lacked the hand speed, angles or offensive variety to do real damage. By round six, his body language told the story.
For Ennis, the next move remains uncertain. He hasn’t ruled out a jump to 154lb, but with two of the four major welterweight belts now in hand, Ennis may want to pursue undisputed status before the scale catches up to him. “I’ll talk to my team,” he said when asked about his future. “But right now, I just want to enjoy this moment.”
And enjoy it he should. After years of being labeled the next big thing, Ennis finally showed he’s no longer the future of the division. He’s its present.
