Jaron Ennis generally doesn’t respond to critics who’ve continually questioned his overall level of opposition.
The former Ring, IBF and WBA welterweight champion – who faces
Uisma Lima in his
154-pound debut Saturday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia – prefers to let his tantalizing talent speak for him. Eventually, Ennis expects a long list of indisputable conquests to satisfy even the ficklest fight fans.
“I ain’t got nothin’ to say,” Ennis said regarding critics during the newest episode of “Inside The Ring,” available on DAZN. “You know, like I just said, we gonna bring ‘em in one by one. And we gonna shut everybody up, one by one. Just everybody be patient. And make sure y’all tune in Saturday, and then we’re gonna take it from there.”
If it were up to him, Ennis would’ve fought
Errol Spence Jr. when Spence was an undefeated, unified welterweight champion. Ennis also wanted to face former undisputed welterweight champ
Terence Crawford, who has repeatedly stated that he didn’t want to fight Ennis because winning wouldn’t have done anything to enhance his legacy.
The Philadelphia native is aware, however, that his doubters are especially displeased with three of his four opponents since he first signed with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing in the spring of 2024.
Ennis, 28, is just short of six months removed from his most impressive victory – a
six-round domination of former WBA welterweight champ
Eimantas Stanionis.
The multidimensional Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs, 1 NC) was too fast, too smart, too strong and too versatile for Stanionis (16-1, 9 KOs, 1 NC). He dropped the 2016 Olympian from Lithuania in the sixth round of a 147-pound title unification fight that was stopped before the seventh round began April 12 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The 5-foot-10 Ennis determined soon thereafter that it was no longer safe or smart to squeeze himself down to the welterweight limit. He thus announced in June that he would relinquish his titles and compete in the junior middleweight division.
Fans and pundits were again underwhelmed when Ennis settled for facing Angola’s Lima in his first fight at the new weight.
Hearn made lucrative offers to more proven junior middleweights, most notably
Serhii Bohachuk, but only Lima was willing to face Ennis in his hometown. DraftKings lists Ennis as an unsightly 25-1 favorite in a 12-round WBA elimination match DAZN will stream from the home venue of the NBA’s Sixers and NHL’s Flyers (8 p.m. ET; 5 p.m. PT).
Ennis easily defeated huge underdogs
David Avanesyan (31-5-1, 19 KOs) by technical knockout after five rounds and
Karen Chukhadzhian (25-3, 13 KOs) by unanimous decision in the first two fights of his partnership with Matchroom.
His unnecessary rematch with Chukhadzhian 11 months ago invited intense criticism because Ennis shut out the Ukrainian contender on all three scorecards in their 12-round fight for the IBF interim title 22 months earlier.
The IBF eventually elevated Ennis to full champion. The New Jersey-based sanctioning organization then inexplicably installed Chukhadzhian as Ennis’ mandatory challenger.
Ennis envisioned becoming undisputed 147-pound champion at that time and didn’t want to give up his IBF belt. Critics contended he still should’ve found a more formidable opponent than Chukhadzhian for a purse in excess of $2 million.
Ennis expects his junior middleweight journey to be remembered differently because he thinks he’ll finally fight rival
Vergil Ortiz Jr. and other 154-pound champions on his way to becoming a four-division champion.
“For me, my legacy is to be, you know, collect them belts, you know, be a, you know, multiple weight division champion,” Ennis said. “You know, undisputed at ’54, if possible. You know, and keep doing that each and every weight class – 154, ‘60 and maybe ’68. You know, that’s my goal, and to fight these top guys. And, you know, it’s gonna happen one by one. We gonna bring ‘em.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.