Jaron Ennis is trying his best to remain patient.

The 23-year-old Ennis hopes, however, that a legitimate welterweight contender is willing to fight him next. The powerful, skillful Philadelphia native extended his knockout streak to 16 when he recently became the first fighter to knock out Juan Carlos Abreu, but he seeks greater challenges.

“I want the top-five, top-10 guys or a title eliminator, or something like that, to lead me to the world championship in 2021,” Ennis said. “I just wanna keep proving myself, that I’m one of the best fighters out right now and continue to get better each and every day, and sharpen my skills, and just work on things.”

Ennis (26-0, 24 KOs) knocked down the Dominican Republic’s Abreu once in the fifth round and twice early in the sixth. Referee John Callas stopped their scheduled 10-rounder at 1:06 of the sixth round of a fight Showtime televised from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

“I knew I was gonna stop him,” Ennis said. “Like I told y’all before, it was gonna come. I had my fun with this. When you have fun with this sport, it’s hard to beat somebody like that.”

The 33-year-old Abreu (23-6-1, 21 KOs, 1 NC) previously lost to WBA interim welterweight champion Jamal James (27-1, 12 KOs), Egidijus Kavaliauskas (22-1-1, 18 KOs) and Alexander Besputin (14-0, 9 KOs), though none of those welterweights stopped Abreu inside the distance.

“I made a statement tonight,” Ennis said. “I stopped someone that hadn’t been stopped before, so bring them top-five guys, top-10 guys, title eliminators. Let’s go. World championship, let’s go. I’m coming [in] 2021.”

Ennis is ranked 11th by the WBO, 12th by the IBF and 15th by the WBC. He told BoxingScene.com before beating Abreu that he will likely need to earn mandatory status with one of the sanctioning organizations before a champion will fight him.

“I think I might have to get into a mandatory position, because I don’t think any of the champs are gonna call me out,” Ennis said. “I don’t feel like one of the champs are gonna be like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m just gonna fight this guy.’ I’m ranked for the belts, but I don’t think they’re gonna just pick me. They’re gonna skip all around me and pick the easier fights.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.