Jaron Ennis becomes a unified welterweight champ
Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis moved up to 34-0, 30 KOs, with a sixth-round stoppage win over unbeaten Eimantas Stanionis (15-1, 9 KOs) in Atlantic City, on April 12, live on DAZN.
The fight ebbed and flowed early, with both boxers coming forward and pushing the other back, and landing big, clean shots. Boots then overwhelmed Stanionis, trapping him the corner, landing big hooks and uppercuts to force him to go down.
Stanionis, 30, had held the WBA welterweight crown since 2022 and won all his previous 15 professional bouts, but failed to come out for the seventh round after suffering a series of savage body shots in the sixth stanza.
The Lithuanian started brightly, catching Ennis with two crunching overhand rights in the third round.
But Boots responded with a dominant fourth round, wobbling Stanionis with his solid jab, while relentlessly targeting his body.
Stanionis needed to drop down to one knee in the sixth round after being caught with several punishing body blows in quick succession.
Although he made it to the end of the round, his trainer Marvin Somodio put a stop to the contest.
Ennis showed just how much it meant to him to win a world title in the ring. Despite making three defences of his IBF title, he never actually won it in a fight, he was elevated from Interim champion, so winning the WBA belt in this fashion meant everything to him.
After the fight, the victor humbly reflected on his performance, “When I got a live body in front of me, you see what happens. I put on a show. I showed speed, power, defence I showed a little bit of inside game. I showed a little bit of everything. They still ain’t seen nothing yet though, I got a long way to go, I’m just getting started.
“I’m gonna enjoy my victory, enjoy these belts, speak to my dad, my team and see what’s next. I appreciate everyone coming out – Philly, Jersey, Tri-State, New York, Delaware, Baltimore, DC, even the Lithuanian people – I wanna thank Eddie [Hearn], Matchroom, appreciate y’all, shout out to my brother too!”
“This is one of the finest fighters in the sport of boxing!” promoter Eddie Hearn declared. “By far the best fighter in the division. You’re witnessing true greatness, he’ll now make his way onto the pound-for-pound list, we’ve got to fight the other champions. And what a great man from a great city in Philadelphia. You should all be so proud of him cos he carries your city around with him everywhere he goes, we’ll be back in Philly soon.”
Boots will now be looking for further unifications with WBC boss Mario Barrios and WBO king Brian Norman Jr.
Also on the Matchroom Boxing show, former world champion Raymond Ford decisioned Thomas Mattice over 10-rounds at super-featherweight. This was the only fight on the bill that reached the final bell.
There were knockout wins for Shakhram Giyasov, Arturo Popoca, Tahmir Smalls, Francesco Rodriguez, Omari Jones, Zaquin Moses.
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