By: Sean Crose
Jaron “Boots” Ennis returned to the ring Saturday night in his hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The former welterweight titleist was stepping up to junior middleweight. His opponent? Uisma Lima, a fighter who had only suffered one defeat and who was now making his American debut. Although the 34-0 Ennis was largely expected to win, the 14-1 Lima was a largely unknown commodity which added a question mark to the DAZN broadcast affair.
The opening round saw a thunderous combination put Lima to the mat. He got up but Ennis immediately went to work to end the fight early. A few seconds later Lima was down again. He gamely got up once more but he was clearly in a great deal of trouble. A final furious flurry led the referee to step in and end the fight. Ennis in his junior middleweight debut looked absolutely stellar. Lima was unknown but he was a ranked contender with an excellent record. It was very hard not to be impressed with Philadelphia’s Ennis on Saturday night.
Ennis now holds the WBA interim junior middleweight title belt. That means he’s in line for a shot at a world title.”I did what I had to do,” Ennis said afterwards. “I feel like the longer I move up the stronger I’m going to get.” So, what’s in the man’s future? “You know what time it is” Ennis said “You know who I want next…I want Virgil Ortiz.” Promoter Eddie Hearn couldn’t have been happier with Ennis’ performance.
“This is the future of the sport of boxing,” he said of Ennis. Needless to say, Ennis supported his promoter’s assertion. “Bring em all. 154 is mine,” Ennis added. The question of course is whether Ennis will get a chance to fight the bigger names out there. This is boxing 2025, after all. It’s not easy for the big fights to be made. In fact, it’s outright difficult for the big fights to be made. Hopefully Ennis will get the chance to find himself in a major battle with a high profile, high quality opponent.
With Crawford great as he is past his prime, and Canelo great as he is past his prime, the public is obviously looking ahead to see who may be the next king of the sport. Suffice to say Ennis is definitely in line for the throne. Time, of course, will tell the tale.