Jaron Ennis made a second successful defense of his IBF welterweight title with a fifth-round technical knockout win over David Avanesyan (30-5-1 18 KOs) on Saturday evening in front of a crowd of 14,119 at Wells Fargo Center in his hometown of Philadelphia.
“It was a good performance, a good comeback fight. I ain’t fight in a year so it felt good to be back in the ring,” said Ennis, who remained undefeated at 32-0 with 28 KOs. “Felt good to be home. The crowd was loving it. I’m glad to be back.”
Prior to dismissing Avanesyan, his previous bout was a 10th round knockout against Roiman Villa July 8, 2023.
“It was dope,” Ennis said of the crowd. “It was a great experience walking out in front of my friends, family and supporters at this big arena. You know it was a blessing. I was taking it all in.”
The 27-year-old former national Golden Glove gold medal winner in the light welterweight division felt a little ring rust early. “I seen everything he was doing, my time being a little off,” Ennis said. “Like I said, I ain’t think my time was going to be off, but it was.”
Ennis ideally wants to challenge Terence Crawford, the holder of WBA and WBO welterweight belts. Crawford is widely considered the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. But it is likely Ennis will try to unify the welterweight titles.
Crawford will take on WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3 at the BMO Arena in Los Angeles. The 36-year-old Crawford is seeking to become an undisputed champion in an unprecedented third division in the four-belt era. Also on that card, WBA 140-pound champion Isaac Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KOs) will make his first world title defense against Jose Valenzuela (13-2, 9 KOs) and former unified heavyweight world champion Andy Ruiz Jr. (35-2, 22 KOs), returning from an almost two-year layoff, will fight Jarrell Miller (26-1-1, 22 KOs).
Claressa Shields, the most accomplished female boxer in history, will again dare to be great by moving up to heavyweight to battle Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse for the WBC heavyweight title. Shields and Crawford are the only two fighters to be undisputed in two divisions in the four-belt era.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman has ordered a mandatory title defense of lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) against William Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs). “Very much looking forward to this great match,” Sulaiman tweeted.