Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Coach Stephen Edwards says Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis isn’t letting anyone down. He thinks it’s “behind the scenes and his promoters are trying to figure out what they can get for him at 147.”
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
IBF light heavyweight champion Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) isn’t helping himself by turning down WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Teofimo Lopez. That would be huge for Boots.
Boots could fight Vergil on the Turki Al-Shiekh card on Feb. 22 in Riyadh, and that would be a big payday for him. Fans believe that Ennis bent Virgil Jr. and did not want to accept a risky match for fear of getting beaten.
Boots’ decision not to fight Vergil Jr. comes at a bad time for him. He just had a terrible performance against Karen Chukadjian in their rematch on November 9, and some think his confidence is gone.
The Ducking Debate
“There are fighters who cower behind their management to not fight fighters, but I don’t think that applies to him,” Stephen Edwards said ISM Sports Media about his belief that Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis doesn’t let guys down.
“I don’t think he leaves anyone behind.” I just think there’s a lot of things going on behind the scenes, and they’re just trying to figure out who they can get in the ring, and he knows his given numbers are at 147,” Stephen continued on “Boots”.
“I don’t think he’s saying, ‘I’m afraid to fight this guy.’ I’m just thinking of a lot of things on the business side that aren’t going very smoothly for him. He has a lot. His team just has to get those guys in the ring,” Edwards said.
Boots obviously isn’t shadowing anyone at 147 because there isn’t anyone talented enough to want to avoid them. But it sure looks like he avoided WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. when that fight was recently offered to him. Ennis said he wants to stay at 147 to unify, but his situation there is not promising.
Ennis reportedly turned down a career payday to fight Vergil Jr. for a career on Feb. 22, which looks bad on his part.
Edwards’ defense
“If he gets the unification against Brian Norman or the fight against Mario Barrios.” Every time I see Conor Benn, they keep talking about Barrios. So I know there’s kind of a conflict when you have a guy that’s in your promotional stable and one guy (Benn) is trying to fight.
“It must be difficult for Boots.” “If Conor Benn gets Mario Barrios to fight and Boots wants to unify, that’s tough,” Edwards said.
If Ennis’ promoter, Eddie Hearn, decides to set up a fight between Conor Benn and WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Mario Barrios instead of helping him unify against Barrios, you can understand why it would upset him if he’s been following what’s going on.
Boots said he didn’t know what happened when he was offered the Virgil Ortiz Jr. fight at 154. Jaron talked about what was going on behind the scenes without his knowledge. If Boots’ management doesn’t keep him updated, he’ll be surprised if Conor Benn gets the Barrios fight instead.
If Conor wins that fight, Ennis should consider moving up to 154, because that means he’ll likely never get the chance to achieve his goal of becoming undisputed at 147.
Assuming Conor beats Barrios, he would use the WBC title for a big fight against Manny Pacquiao instead of facing Ennis. He won’t fight him because his chances of success would be slim, and he can make more money holding the WBC title to use to lure the 45-year-old Pacquiao.
