Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis said post-fight last Saturday night that he may have to move up to 154 if he can’t get the last two remaining fights against the welterweight champions Brian Norman Jr. and Marios Barrios. It’s looking like that’s going to be the case.
Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) sounds naive about the mindset of the other belt-holders at 147. He seems like a big sap, slow to understand his situation. His promoter, Eddie Hearn, shouldn’t be humoring him by making him think there’s hope he can eventually capture all the titles at 147 to complete his useless goal of becoming undisputed.
Hearn should be telling it like it is to Boots. He’s not helping Boots by playing along with his dream-like fantasy world vision of a future where he’ll capture all the belts at 147, be praised, and receive the glory. It’s mental and comes across as insanity. Ennis is like a child, and Hearn needs to guide him because he’s dreaming of a future that will never exist.
Milking the Belts
Barrios and Norman Jr. will NOT fight him unless the money is life-changing, and it won’t be. $1.8 million isn’t the type of money after expenses for those two champions to agree to fight Boots.
They know they’re better off fighting easy opposition, milking their titles for as long as possible. Norman Jr. (27-0, 21 KOs) already likely has a better-paying fight in the pipeline against contender Jin Sasaki. After that, there are other fights Norman can take that will pay well.
Barrios has fights against Errol Spence and Manny Pacquiao that will pay him far more than a one-shot $1.8 million to fight Boots Ennis.
Ennis may not like the idea of having to risk his hide moving up to 154 to enter the dangerous waters filled with predatory sharks, but he’s going to have to do it. He’s about to turn 28, and he can’t afford to wait for Barrios and Norman Jr. to eventially fight him. They won’t do it because the money isn’t enough for them to trade in their titles for one measly payday.
Not “Top Tier”
“When I fight top-of-the-line guys, good guys, that’s what you’re going to see. You’re going to see a whole different me. When I’m in the ring, I’m in my happy place. When I’ve got a top guy, and I’m fighting for something, it’s a whole different story,” said Boots Ennis inside the ring after his victory over Eimantas Stanionis.
Ennis sounds so childlike here. He’s so lost.
I don’t want to shoot holes through Ennis’ dream world, but Stanionis was NOT a “top-of-the-line” fighter. He was always a limited fighter that struggled against fringe-level opposition and won the WBA ‘regular’ belt against Radzhab Butaev by a razor-close 12-round split decision in 2022, and he’d only fought twice in the last four years. He was an inactive, easy-to-hit ham & egger, and that is the true reason why Ennis was in his “Happy place” last Saturday night.
Dinosaur Views
“I don’t even want to talk about that. They run their mouths too much. I don’t even want to address that,” said trainer Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis to Ring Magazine when asked about his thoughts on Brian Norman Jr. being the next opponent for Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis after his victory over Eimantas Stanionis last Saturday night.
“If you come like that with all gas no brakes, he’s going to run into something, and what did he do? He ran into something,” said Bozy about Stanionis fighting recklessly, which was his downfall in the end when he was knocked out in the sixth.
Bozy seems to be behind the times, failing to realize that Brian Norman Jr.’s trash-talking is part of building up the fight. Papa Ennis operates from an ancient era before the Internet, social media, UFC, and cable TV, when fans had fewer choices. Nowadays, fighters must trash-talk, which Norman Jr. is doing admirably. It’s not his fault that Bozy and Boots Ennis are stuck in the old ways.
Last Updated on 04/14/2025
