Welterweight contender Jaron “Boots” Ennis is in a tough spot. He’s too good to have fighters want to step in the ring with him. Ennis is high risk and low reward at this stage of his career.
However, if he keeps winning, fighters will have no choice but to fight him.
Ennis(29-0, 27 KOs) hopes to keep on winning when he battles Karen Chukhadzhian(21-1, 11 KOs) for the Interim IBF Welterweight Title in the co-main event headlined by Gervonta Davis-Hector Garcia on Saturday, January 7 from Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.(Showtime PPV).
Jaron, and his trainer/father, Bozy Ennis, say they have not watched much of Chukhadzhian, but according to them, they will be ready.
“I haven’t watched any footage of my opponent, but my team has been watching him,” Jaron Ennis said at his media workout on Tuesday. “We have a game plan for what he does well.”
Bozy Ennis added: “I don’t watch the opponents; I let Jaron’s brothers do that. I watch the first round of the fight, and then I go from there. If you start looking at one fighter too much, you can get into a bad situation if they get hurt and have to be replaced. We train to face any kind of style.”
Ennis said he watched a lot of Mike Tyson for this camp, so it appears he’s shooting for the knockout.
“I’ve just been watching a lot of Mike Tyson myself,” Ennis said. “He put a lot of punches together. Triple, doubles, same hands, lots of knockouts. He didn’t see too many late rounds. I’ve been watching him a lot this camp.
If he gets by Chukhadzhian, Ennis has made it clear that he wants unified welterweight champion Errol Spence next. Some believe that the big fighters are avoiding him, including Spence, but Ennis feels that’s not the case.
“I feel like Errol Spence Jr. would fight me,” Ennis said. I’m going in there with the intention of winning the interim title, then fighting Errol next. I think we can make it happen.”
In the end, his goal is to be undisputed at 147 pounds.
“My motivation is to one day be undisputed at 147 pounds,” Ennis said. “I’m motivated every day, so this is just another day in the office for me.”
Photo: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME
