It was a great night for undefeated welterweight boxer Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Philadelphia boxing on Saturday night, as 14,000 fans came to the Wells Fargo Center to see the North
ABOVE PHOTO: Photo caption—from left to right; Derek “Bozy” Ennis, Jaron “Boots” Ennis, and Eddie Hearn, CEO of Matchroom Boxing.
Photo: Chris Murray
By Chris Murray
For the Philadelphia Sunday SUN
The two biggest questions leading into Jaron “Boots” Ennis International Boxing Federation welterweight title defense against David Avanesyan were how long it would take for Ennis to take out his opponent and whether Philadelphians would come out for Fight Night on Saturday.
Over 14,000 fans packed the Wells Fargo Center to see Ennis, a year removed from his last fight, unhinge and dismantle a game Avanesyan with a fifth-round technical knockout. The fight was stopped before the start of the sixth round by the doctor at ringside after Avanesyan complained of severe pain in the jaw.
No doubt that most of Avanesyan’s pain came from a devasting barrage of Ennis punches from what turned out to be a decisive fifth round in which Ennis floored the Armenian former world champion with a counter left hook to the jaw.
Throughout the fight, Ennis, fighting both in the orthodox and southpaw stances, peppered Avanesyan with body and head shots from all kinds of angles. Ennis showed some ring rust and took shots most ring observers weren’t accustomed to seeing him take.
“I didn’t think my timing would be off, but it was,” said Ennis, who saw his record improve 32-0 with 29 knockouts. “I definitely knew I was going to stop him. Every round I felt him breaking down and decreasing. It was just a matter of time. I had to get into my bag a little bit and pick it up a little more.”
Despite showing signs of rustiness in the ring, Ennis still dominated and battered Avanesyan into submission. He landed 46 percent of his punches and 53.4 percent of his power punches. Sixty-six of his punches found their way to Avanesyan’s mid-section.
For Ennis to have that kind of performance when he wasn’t on top of his game speaks volumes about his potential as one of boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighters.
“I feel like I can be phenomenal. I was off for a year, but I have many more tools in my arsenal,” Ennis said. “I’ve just got to get the opportunity to show it against the top guys.”
Ennis’s promoter, Eddie Hearns, CEO of Matchroom Boxing, echoed his young fighter sentiments. He said he would like to see Ennis tested against tougher opponents.
“It was the way he did it … (Ennis) felt his performance was more average … If that was an average performance, you just destroyed Avanesyan. It was so one-sided. I know Avaneysan was trying. He’s breezing through guys like that. … I want him to be tested … who wants to see a one-sided beatdown. You’ve got to create a great fight so they can define their legacy.”
Is Terence Crawford next?
The one guy who could help boost Ennis’s legacy in the sport is former undisputed world welterweight champion Terence Crawford (40-0, 31KOs), who’s not all that impressed with Ennis’s prowess in the ring and sent out a dismissive tweet shortly after the fight:
“World Class fight now huh?,” (with laughing emoji) Crawford said in his tweet. “my the double standards must be crazy. @Eddie Hearn, you talk good.”
Crawford, who is now fighting in the 154-pound junior middleweight division, will be taking on World Boxing Association Super Welterweight champion Israil Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) on Aug. 3. There has also been talk that Crawford might be fighting super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.
Hearn said during the post-fight interview that he and Ennis spoke via FaceTime with Saudi Arabian boxing broker Turki Alalsheikh about the possibility of an Ennis-Crawford fight.
“(Alalsheikh) asked me ‘Will we make the Crawford fight?’ and Boots said to him, ‘Send the contract,’” Hearn said. “So, Terence Crawford, if he gets past Madrimov on Aug. 3rd will have the chance to see if Boots is a world-class fighter.”
Hearn said the fight between Ennis and Crawford could take place sometime within the the four months of 2025.
But later during a raucous Ennis post-fight press conference, Hearn, Ennis, his trainer, and father Bozy Ennis all said they would take a more pragmatic approach by beating all the fighters in the welterweight division.
“Right now, we ain’t worrying about Crawford. We’re going to clean 147 out. Then, we gonna move to 154, and if (Crawford is there and he got a belt, we’re coming after him,” said Bozy Ennis.
In one last verbal jab at Crawford, Boots Ennis reacted to Crawford questioning his status as a world-class fighter: “Sign the contract … if he wanted to fight, he would have stayed at 147.”
Successful fight night in Philly
In addition to his outstanding performance inside the ring, Ennis got rave reviews for packing in a large, raucous crowd at the Wells Fargo Center. The exact number was 14,119. Hearns said he was shocked to get that large of a crowd to come out to see a boxing match.
“I was honestly blown away by the crowd,” Hearn said. “I would like to say it was down the promoter, and the promotion had to be great, but I never expected to do over 14,000. It was just incredible. Bozy was looking around and saying, ‘I can’t believe all these people.”
For the unbeaten Ennis fighting in front of a large home crowd was a dream come true.
“It was great, and it was everything I thought it was going to be,” Ennis said. “I had just rung the bell back in March for the Sixers Game. I said to myself, ‘I’m going to sell this place out …(Hearn) brought me home and I did it.”
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