IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) is said to be finalizing his fight against WBA belt champion Eimantas Stanionis (15-1, 9 KOs) in a show promoted on DAZN on April 12 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Ring reports that Ennis vs. Stanionis is almost finished. However, fighting in Atlantic City is an odd place, as there aren’t many boxing events these days. It would make sense for the fight to take place in Boots’ hometown of Philadelphia, but given the way she looked in her last fight against Karen Chukhadzhian, it’s probably best in Atlantic City.

Ennis’ Quest for the Unsuspecting

Botas has taken a lot of flak from fans for turning down a fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr. at 154 in order to stay at 147 to continue working on his goal of becoming the undisputed welterweight champion.

Ennis, 27, has the right promoter, Eddie Hearn, to make his dream come true, but it still seems futile. The three players Jaron is expected to beat, Stanionis, Mario Barrios, and Brian Norman Jr., are not US names.

Terence Crawford’s popularity grew when he defeated Errol Spence to become the world’s top welterweight champion in 2023, but he was a star. Boots may not have this because the three champions they will fight against are unknown to casual fans.

‼️ Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis vs Eimantas Stanionis is now close to finalizing the World WBA & IBF welterweight title fight on April 12 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, The Ring has learned. pic.twitter.com/JM3dQa8xuT

— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) January 19, 2025

“It’s about time Boots got in the ring with somebody,” said Tim Bradley State of Boxingcriticizing Jaron Ennis for going his entire nine-year career without fighting an A-level fighter. “He had a lot of opportunities to get in the ring with a lot of guys, Vergil Ortiz, but he didn’t choose.”

Boots on Fire

Jaron Ennis did not fare well in his rematch against the IBF Karen Chukhadjian on November 9th at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

Karen made Ennis look the worst in the fight, chasing him and hitting him with potshots all night; if not for Chukhadzhian gassing in the round race, Ennis would have lost. If Hearn made a deal with WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. in the unification battle, the Bots could temporarily avoid Karen’s repetition. He would still have had to fight, but it would have turned him off and kept his stock from getting too low.

On top of all this, Ennis made matters worse for himself by turning down a high-paying job to challenge Vergil Ortiz Jr. for his WBC interim junior middleweight title on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 on February 22nd in Riyadh.

That event will be shown on DAZN PPV, and it would be a good car for Ennis to increase his power in just one battle. Beating Vergil Jr. it would have done more for Ennis to become a world champion than for him to become the undisputed champion at 147 years of age by beating three lesser-known champions. It’s panic on Ennis’ part or the lack of desire that made him turn down the fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr?

I can see what the developer is doing Eddie Hearn is controversial trying to turn Jaron Ennis into a star. The shoes make it difficult to turn him into a star with his hand movements.