After Ennis dazzles vs. Stanionis, Hearn eyes Norman unification fight
Promoter hopes 'other champions have ambition' to face the best
A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.
Jaron “Boots” Ennis may have unified the IBF and WBA welterweight belts, won the vacant Ring magazine title and stamped himself as No. 1 in the division with a dazzling display against Eimantas Stanionis, but to hear the champ give his view, he was just getting started.
“I was just revving my engine and getting going, but I knew he was going to go from like the second round, from certain things he was doing,” Ennis said. “I wanted to pick it up, but my Pops (father and trainer Bozy Ennis) was like, not yet, take your time, chill, have fun — just stick to the game plan and let it come.”
The knockout did come when, after Stanionis had taken a beating, gotten knocked down in the sixth round and was bleeding heavily from the nose, trainer Marvin Somodio stopped the fight after the sixth round on Saturday night in the main event of the Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where Ennis, who is from nearby Philadelphia, was the big crowd favorite.
In stopping the then-unbeaten Stanionis, Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs), 27, retained the IBF title for the third time and took the WBA belt from Stanionis and lived up to all the potential so many have seen in him for years despite a lukewarm performance in a decision win over mandatory challenger Karen Chukhadzhian in his previous fight, a November rematch of a shutout of Chukhadzhian to win the vacant IBF interim title in 2023.
Ennis said he had a hard time motivating himself for the rematch with Chukhadzhian that nobody, including him, had much interest in. It was a much different story for the unification fight that he had pined for.
“I don’t want to sound repetitive, but I’ve been saying, when I fight top of the line guys, that’s when you’ll see a whole different me,” Ennis said during his post-fight news conference. “When I’m in the ring, I’m in my happy place, and when I’ve got a top guy and I’m fighting for something, it’s a whole different story and no one can mess with me.”
How badly did Ennis want a unification fight? He said he took a pay cut despite the fight being much more significant than his recent bouts.