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Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis must ensure he is not kept out of his negotiations for a mega-fight against Teofimo Lopez in early 2025. Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) felt he was blindsided by being offered a fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr. , February 22.
“Out of the loop” excuse.
This time IBF light heavyweight champion Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) must be involved as a match against Teofim (21-1, 13 KOs) will boost his slowly progressing career.
Fans already don’t believe Boots’ excuse for the decision not to fight Vergil, seeing it as a case of old-fashioned fear mongering. His last opponent, Karen Chukhadzhian, humiliated him on November 9, and Ortiz Jr. could do much worse. Ennis’ excuse to keep him away from his team has fallen flat with fans, who feel he lacks courage after what happened to him against Karen.
Lopez shows he’s not afraid to take on the challenge of moving up to 147. Too bad Ennis wasn’t willing to do the same and move up to 154 for one fight to challenge Vergil Jr. for his WBC interim title at His Excellency Turkey Alalshikh’s appearance in Riyadh on February 22.
Teofimo began his career at lightweight and moves up to 140 in 2022. Teo has only had five fights at welterweight and now jumps to 147 to challenge Boots. That’s impressive.
The downside to Ennis’ fight against Lopez is that if he is defeated or fights to win, his stock will drop even further than it is now following his decision to not take part in the Vergil Jr. contest. It would be hard to see Boots bounce back from a loss or a bad game against Teofim and become a popular guy.
Proving the doubters wrong
Lance Pugmire reports that Teofimo’s promoter, Bob Arum, is in talks with Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn to schedule the fight for a joint DAZN/ESPN PPV event early next year. Now that Terence Crawford has moved up in weight, that’s the best fight that can be made for Boots at 147.
We have to wait and see if this fight will succeed because it has yet to be negotiated. Teofimo could opt to play in the A side with Ennis, which will reduce any chance of a match. Boots sees himself as the king of the 147-lb division right now in terms of talent. Conor Benn, Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia are more popular than Ennis because they have personalities.
Ennis wants to be a star, but he can’t unless he arranges a fight against Teofim and faces Haney, Ryan and Benn.
