Jaron “Boots” Ennis relinquished his IBF and WBA welterweight titles at 147 pounds to challenge for the WBA interim super welterweight championship at 154 pounds. Turns out, Ennis only needed one minute and 58 seconds to earn his first win at the new weight.
Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs) knocked down Angolan Uisma Lima (14-2 10 KOs), who was making his first appearance in the United States, before referee Shawn Clark stepped in to stop the fight in the first round to win the title at Xfinity Mobile Arena in his hometown of Philadelphia.
“(Lima) was a bigger guy, he’s fought at 160 (middleweight) a couple times, and I just wanted to test my body out at 154,” the 28-year-old Ennis said after his win. “I felt way better at 154 for sure, and the extra seven pounds did justice. I felt great. I was feeling great all fight week, and like I said, even when I was at my last training for my last workout, I felt great. I usually don’t want to do nothing around that time, but I felt great. I was energized, I was moving around, all that stuff, so I love 154.”
What’s next for Ennis?
“I know (undefeated interim WBC super welterweight champion Vergil Ortiz) got a fight coming,” he remarked when asked about a clash between the two undefeated interim titleholders. “He is focused on his fight (versus Erickson Lubin on Nov. 8).”
Ennis later asserted that he wants any champion present title holder or active past titleholder at 154 if Ortiz is unavailable.
“(Former undisputed super welterweight champion) Charlo, he can get it next,” he said, then mentioning other super welterweight champions, including the WBC champ Sebastian Fundora, IBF titleist Bakhram Murtazaliev, and WBO strap holder Xander Zayas.
On Saturday at the Barclays Center, Danny Garcia (37-4 21 KOs) will fight a record 10th time at the Brooklyn venue when he faces Queens native Daniel Gonzalez (22-4-1 7 KOs). Garcia is 7-2 at the Barclays Center, including the first two losses of his career.
On October 25, Tom Aspinall will make his first defense of the UFC heavyweight title vacated by Jon Jones against Frenchman Ciryl Gane at UFC 321. Gane has only lost to Jones and PFL heavyweight champion and former UFC heavyweight title holder Francis Ngannou.