It's the 'Boots' and 'Bam' show
Young stars Jaron Ennis and Jesse Rodriguez embrace sharing the spotlight with each other as they defend their world titles
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Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, two of the best young American boxing stars, have both shown that they can carry their own shows as main event fighters.
When Ennis made his first IBF welterweight title defense in a fifth-round knockout of David Avanesyan on July 13 at the Wells Fargo Center in his hometown of Philadelphia, he drew a crowd of 14,119. It was the largest attendance for a boxing event in Philadelphia since 14,930 turned out to the Spectrum in 1978 for Marvin Hagler’s decision win over Bennie Briscoe in a fight two years before Hagler won the undisputed middleweight championship.
San Antonio’s Rodriguez drew a crowd of about 8,000 for his last fight, a tremendous performance in a seventh-round knockout of lock future Hall of Famer Juan Francisco Estrada to win the lineal and WBC junior bantamweight titles on June 29 at Footprint Center in Phoenix.
But now, perhaps for one night only, it’s the “Boots” and “Bam” show as Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn has paired his two young guns on the same event, which should be a real treat for fight fans. It harkens back to when greats Gennadiy Golovkin and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez shared cards together on HBO a decade ago or even as recently as June, when Gervonta Davis and David Benavidez, two popular draws, who have headlined their cards, co-headlined a Premier Boxing Champions pay-per-view event.
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