Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis wants to make sure he’s not stored out of the loop for his negotiations for a mega-fight towards Teofimo Lopez in early 2025. Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) felt he was blindsided about being supplied a combat towards Vergil Ortiz Jr. on February twenty second.
The “Out Of The Loop” Excuse
This time, IBF welterweight champion Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) should be concerned as a result of a match towards Teofimo (21-1, 13 KOs) will increase his slowly progressing profession.
Followers already don’t consider Boots’ excuse for selecting to not combat Vergil, viewing it as a case of old style concern. His final opponent, Karen Chukhadzhian, humiliated him on November ninth, and Ortiz Jr. might do a lot worse to him. Ennis’ excuse about being stored out of the loop together with his workforce has fallen flat with followers, who see him as missing braveness after what occurred to him towards Karen.
Lopez exhibits he’s unafraid to take the problem of shifting as much as 147. It seems to be dangerous that Ennis wasn’t keen to do the identical factor by going as much as 154 for one combat to problem Vergil Jr. for his WBC interim title on His Excellency Turki Alalshikh’s present in Riyadh on February twenty second.
Teofimo began his profession at light-weight and moved as much as 140 in 2022. Teo’s solely had 5 fights at gentle welterweight, and now he’s making the bounce 147 to problem Boots. That’s spectacular.
The draw back of Ennis taking this combat towards Lopez is that if he will get overwhelmed or struggles to win, his inventory will drop even additional than it’s proper now after his choice to not take the Vergil Jr. contest. It could be tough to see Boots come again from a loss or poor exhibiting towards Teofimo and change into a preferred man.
Proving Doubters Incorrect
Lance Pugmire reviews that Teofimo’s promoter, Bob Arum, is negotiating with Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn to schedule the combat for a joint DAZN/ESPN PPV occasion early subsequent yr. Now that Terence Crawford has moved up in weight, it’s the perfect combat that may be made for Boots at 147.
We should wait and see if this combat will get made as a result of it nonetheless must be negotiated. Teofimo would possibly select to play A-side with Ennis, which is able to sink any probabilities of the match. Boots sees himself because the King of the 147-lb division, which he’s now by way of expertise. Conor Benn, Devin Haney, and Ryan Garcia are extra standard than Ennis as a result of they’ve personalities.
Ennis needs to be a star, however he can not try this until he negotiates the Teofimo combat and faces Haney, Ryan, and Benn.
