Clock’s ticking: Jaron Ennis won’t ‘stick around’ to unify remaining titles

ATLANTIC CITY – Derek “Bozy” Ennis has warned Brian Norman Jnr and Mario Barrios that his son Jaron “Boots” is ready to move to junior middleweight if they resist fighting him next.

“Boots” Ennis excelled in stopping the previously undefeated Eimantas Stanionis in six rounds at the Boardwalk Hall on Saturday evening, and in victory he unified the WBA welterweight title with that he already had from the IBF.

His victory and the destructive nature of his mature performance also established him beyond doubt as the division’s leading fighter, and post-fight his promoter Eddie Hearn revealed his desire to match him with Norman Jnr, the WBO champion, in Ennis’ home city of Philadelphia later in 2025.

It is perhaps significant that Matchroom’s Hearn, who also promotes England’s Conor Benn – a potential future opponent for Barrios – favors Norman Jnr instead of the WBC champion, but above all else the promoter insisted that he is determined to deliver to the 27 year old the other welterweight champions so that Ennis can win all four titles before his anticipated move up in weight.

The victory over Stanionis of Lithuania represented the first for which Ennis has used a nutritionist. His frame means that he can be expected to eventually fight at middleweight, and that the time will come when making 147lbs proves a risk.

Post-fight he and Ennis Snr spoke of the relative comfort with which he had made it for the 30-year-old Stanionis, but the father and trainer of who is also the new Ring Magazine champion is adamant that they “ain’t gonna stick around”.

“Not too long,” he told BoxingScene when asked how long Ennis Jnr had left at welterweight. “Not too long. Once we collect these belts [we’ll move up]. It’s possible, if we get them fights. 

“If not, I don’t know if we gonna stick around or not. I don’t think we’re gonna stick around. If we can’t get them belts, we ain’t gonna stick around and wait for these guys.

“It’s gonna be [a struggle to make weight in the future] – he’s getting older. He’s getting older. The older you get, it’s hard taking that weight off. But he knows how to do it. I taught him from the beginning how to take that weight off without being weak.”