Eimantas Stanionis relishing underdog status against 'Boots' Ennis

Ennis, the 27-year-old fighting phenom from Philadelphia, has captured the attention of many with his exciting style and highlight-reel knockouts. Despite the division having other champions, the winner of their fight will be widely seen as the best in the division. 

“He’s number one for a reason, he's a good fighter,” Stanonis told BoxingScene. “He has all the skills; he can switch. He can bang; box; go inside; outside. He’s a brilliant fighter. I can say nothing about it.”

Ennis, 33-0 (29 KOs), didn’t look great in his past outing, a rematch with Karen Chukhadzhian in November. Their fight was an IBF mandatory title defense for him. It was also a rematch of a bout that lacked excitement in 2023 as the chief support to Gervonta Davis-Hector Luis Garcia. Stanionis isn’t reading much into Ennis’ past performance. 

“The media have big expectations of him,” Stanionis said. “He had not his best performance in his last fight and he got hit because he wanted to make that fight exciting, then people said, ‘Oh he's not good. He got hit’. But it's boxing, you know – everybody gets hit.”

Stanonis, 15-0 (9 KOs), has experienced inactivity being his enemy. He has only fought once since 2023, when winning a unanimous decision over Gabriel Maestre of Venezuela. His standing in his weight division is therefore often overlooked. He is a betting underdog, and embraces the role because he believes many are counting him out. 

“People in media think he's going to knock me out in two seconds or something like that,” Stanionis said. “I'm just doing my job; training hard. I like being the underdog when people don't believe in you and you prove them wrong, and what do they say about boxing? It is the most unpredictable sport and you never know what can happen.”