Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis wants to make sure he’s not saved out of the loop for his negotiations for a mega-fight in opposition to Teofimo Lopez in early 2025. Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) felt he was blindsided about being provided a combat in opposition to Vergil Ortiz Jr. on February twenty second.
The “Out Of The Loop” Excuse
This time, IBF welterweight champion Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) have to be concerned as a result of a match in opposition to Teofimo (21-1, 13 KOs) will increase his slowly progressing profession.
Followers already don’t imagine Boots’ excuse for selecting to not combat Vergil, viewing it as a case of old school 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 saved out of the loop together with his staff has fallen flat with followers, who see him as missing braveness after what occurred to him in opposition to Karen.
Lopez reveals he’s unafraid to take the problem of transferring as much as 147. It seems to be unhealthy 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 mild welterweight, and now he’s making the leap 147 to problem Boots. That’s spectacular.
The draw back of Ennis taking this combat in opposition to Lopez is that if he will get crushed or struggles to win, his inventory will drop even additional than it’s proper now after his determination to not take the Vergil Jr. contest. It might be tough to see Boots come again from a loss or poor exhibiting in opposition to Teofimo and grow to be a well-liked man.
Proving Doubters Incorrect
Lance Pugmire experiences 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 may select to play A-side with Ennis, which is able to sink any possibilities of the match. Boots sees himself because the King of the 147-lb division, which he’s now when it comes to expertise. Conor Benn, Devin Haney, and Ryan Garcia are extra in style than Ennis as a result of they’ve personalities.
Ennis needs to be a star, however he can not do this until he negotiates the Teofimo combat and faces Haney, Ryan, and Benn.
