Promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed that unified welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis is moving up to the 154-pound weight class. This change comes after his team ran tests and found that Ennis was not performing at his best because he was struggling to make the 147-pound limit. It seems he has now outgrown that division.
According to Hearn, Ennis is expected to return to the ring in August or September. One possible opponent for his debut at 154 could be WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. If that fight doesn’t happen, Ennis will face someone else in his first bout in the new weight class.
BOOTS ENNIS: 154-POUND MOVE
Eddie Hearn said that Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis was only at “50%” of his full strength during his unification fight against WBA welterweight champion Eimantas Stanionis on April 12. Hearn believes that now Ennis is moving up to 154 pounds, fans will finally get to see him at his best, performing at 100%.
“Boots is moving up. After the Stanionis fight, his doctors and team did tests and said he hasn’t been performing at his true level,” Hearn told Fighthype. “You could see during fight week how hard it was for him to make 147 pounds. It takes a lot out of him.”
For some time, boxing fans have noticed that Ennis looked weak and drained trying to make weight for the welterweight division. Many have been hoping he would move up to 154 pounds where he can face tougher opponents and look stronger. The welterweight division also lacks big names right now, and the few champions left would ask for huge amounts of money for a fight. Hearn doesn’t think that would be worth it.
“The crazy part is, he still dominated Stanionis while only being at half his physical best,” Hearn added. “That’s what he and his team believe. Sooner or later, continuing with these harsh weight cuts could cause him to underperform or even have a really bad fight night. It just takes one bad cut to ruin everything.”
Eddie Hearn seems happy that Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis is planning to move up to 154 pounds. Hearn believes it doesn’t make sense for Ennis to keep forcing himself to stay at 147 pounds just to make weight, especially when he may not even get the chance to fight for the WBC title. The winner of the Mario Barrios vs. Manny Pacquiao fight will probably avoid facing Ennis and instead focus on more popular names like Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, or Conor Benn.
“I loved the idea of a fight with Teofimo Lopez, and so did Boots,” Hearn said. “But the big question was, can he fight at his best at 147? The answer is that he could probably still win, but not be at his peak.” Hearn added that fans will really see Ennis’ full potential when he moves to 154. This also suggests that Ennis might have been concerned about not performing well enough at 147, even against someone like Lopez. But considering how strong he looked against Eimantas Stanionis in April, even a drained version of Ennis could likely beat Lopez.
Hearn also said that the IBF and WBA welterweight titles will probably be vacated soon. “We’re meeting this week to finalize the decision. But yes, it’s time for Boots to move up. He’s already achieved a lot at 147, now it’s time to go after a second division title.” Hearn warned that if Ennis doesn’t give up his current welterweight belts now, he may regret it later, since the remaining top names won’t want to fight him—they know they’re unlikely to win.
Hearn continued, “We were asked if we would fight Vergil Ortiz in August, and we agreed. But later they told us Vergil wouldn’t be ready by then. We were fine with that. Vergil’s one of the best out there, and we respect him. We’re currently in talks with DAZN, and Boots will return in August or September. Hopefully, we can still make the fight with Vergil happen at 154.”
If Vergil Ortiz Jr. can’t fight in August, Hearn suggested that Ennis should aim for a bout with other champions at 154, like IBF titleholder Bakhram Murtazaliev or WBC champ Sebastian Formella. Hearn stressed that Boots Ennis wants to be involved in all the big fights, especially with the goal of winning world titles. He said that there’s a strong chance Ortiz could become a champion too, which would make a future matchup even bigger.
Hearn finished by saying, “We’re all in for the big fights. A fully fit and healthy Boots Ennis is a scary opponent for anyone, especially if he fights like he did against Stanionis.”
