YOKOHAMA, Japan – Jaron “Boots” Ennis is considering a move up to junior middleweight, despite a lucrative offer to face Teofimo Lopez.
Ennis is coming off a career-best win and performance against Eimantas Stanionis, stopping the Lithuanian to unify the IBF and WBA welterweight titles. It is no secret that Ennis struggles to make the 147lb limit and there had been talk of a move up to junior middleweight prior to the contest with Stanionis.
Ennis decided to stick around at welterweight in order to add more belts to his collection, but after successfully unifying the division against Stanionis it is unlikely he will add a third 147lb title anytime soon. The WBO champion Brian Norman Jnr is facing Jin Sasaki and Mario Barrios is taking on the 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao.
There are talks regarding Ennis facing WBO junior welterweight champion Lopez, but Hearn wonders how wise it would be to try and make the 147 limit again for such a contest.
“I think the big question is whether Boots stays at 147, if I'm honest,” Hearn told BoxingScene. “[The] Stanionis performance was great. The kind of medical stats weren't as great, but it's difficult because I think Boots feels like he's going to perform so much better up at 154.
“The reason that he wanted to stay there originally is to unify, and now he's done it. It's a tough decision. We like the Teo [Lopez] fight. But I think if he stays at 147, he'll fight Teofimo Lopez, and if he doesn't, obviously you'll see him move to 154. With Brian Norman fighting coming up in July out here [in Japan], and Barrios fighting Pacquiao, the unifications aren't really there.
“Boots is a bit of a one-off, really,” he continued. “I say he's not money motivated, of course he is, but he's all about legacy. And he's prepared to do that to his body to make 147, but for the unification. So the Teo fight is a little bit different, but it's a big fight. So we'll have to make a decision soon.”
Ennis hired a nutritionist in an aid to help him make the weight more efficiently for his bout with Stanionis. Ennis looked huge on fight night, far bigger than Stanionis, and dominated him, however, Hearn revealed that making the weight was still a struggle.
“[It was] probably not as bad as the [Karen] Chukhadzhian fight, but I think a lot of people point out during the week how tight he looks at the weight,” he said. “It wasn't like he was dead on the scales for Stanionis, not at all. But it's a massive ask to keep repeatedly bringing himself down to 147.
“And it's not just can you make it? It's can you make it and perform at your best? And I think he feels, even in the Stanionis fight, that that wasn't his best, most powerful version of himself. Which is quite bizarre, because I thought it was unbelievable. But this is what you're going to get from him at 154 and in those weights. You're just going to get someone with a lot more power, even though he's got it at 147.”