Jaron “Boots” Ennis, Becoming a Star in a Starless Sky

Jaron “Boots” Ennis has superstar ability and superstar ring presence. He just isn’t a superstar. Not yet, anyway.

This Saturday, the 27-year-old undefeated IBF welterweight champ is hoping to take a big step towards next-level stardom when he faces David Avanesyan at the Wells Fargo Center in his hometown of Philadelphia. It’ll be his first Philly fight since 2018. With over 10,000 expected to be in attendance and a raucous local vibe likely to contribute to the on-screen atmosphere, Ennis and his new promoter, Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, are hoping to jump start a career that has been equal parts overlooked and under-valued.

Why Isn’t Boots Ennis A Superstar?

So, why isn’t Ennis the star he should be?

Previous representation is most often blamed, something which is also tied into Ennis reportedly having a deal with Showtime, but with no actual boxing company. At some point, someone with Showtime saw Ennis as a star-level prospect and then Showtime got out of the boxing business, leaving Ennis half-attended and then not attended at all. That’s the take from the outside looking in.

Ennis was never a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) fighter, but he got plenty of exposure from the Al Haymon-founded company. He was featured prominently on the undercard of a 2023 Gervonta Davis pay-per-view show and a 2022 Jermell Charlo show. He also headlined two PBC shows, despite not being on their roster.

His level of opposition over the last few years has been consistent with that of the typical rising star. Lots of gatekeepers, fringe contenders, and “next best availables.” He’s looked damn impressive, though, in going through that opposition.

In 2022, he stopped the undefeated Custio Clayton in the second round. In 2020, he was the first to stop Juan Carlos Abreu. In 2021, he was the first to stop former world titlist Sergey Lipinets. Later that same year, he blew away the then-durable gatekeeper Thomas Dulorme in the first round.

No doubt, he earned the buzz he was receiving and the right to be universally regarded as a superstar-in-the-making. He won an interim title in January of 2023 and defended it once, in July.

But then, nothing– for a year now.

The interim IBF welterweight belt he wore as a consolation prize was upgraded to a “full” world championship in November. Unified welterweight champ Terence Crawford made it clear that he wouldn’t be entertaining the idea of facing Boots.

And that last part is probably the real reason Ennis is not the star he should be.

Avoided and Neglected

It’s not just about Crawford passing on Boots, it’s about all the top guys passing on Boots.

Throughout the history of boxing, new stars have been built with a piggyback ride from outgoing stars. The passing of the torch is an essential part of the start-making process in the sport. And if nobody will pass that torch to a rising star, then the rise can only go so high.

Floyd Mayweather never “passed the torch,” but the post-Floyd welterweight era had enough bankable talent– Crawford, Errol Spence, Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman, etc.– to let the players fight among themselves to light a new torch.

Ennis didn’t have that pool of talent from which to draw. And, as pretty much one of the last men standing in a depleted 147 lb. class, he still doesn’t.

That’s the challenge facing Eddie Hearn– finding bankable B-sides for his new client. Ennis will be on a new network, equipped with new PR people, but he’s pretty much in the same career-stifling predicament now that he was the last couple years.

Ennis is no longer a big dog chasing the bigger dogs– he’s the big dog, alone, in a yard with no other dogs to fight. The headline-friendly “I want so-and-so” hype can’t even be tossed out there anymore. He IS the big dog now, by default.

The Rough Road Ahead

Fighting in front of 10 or 15K screaming hometown fans will make for an energizing Matchroom debut on DAZN. But then what? Next-level opposition with name value is a “must” if a fighter wants to be a real star. There’s none of that to be found at welterweight right now, where the biggest active names are currently Mario Barrios and Eimantis Stanionis. Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney are supposedly headed up to 147, but they won’t be looking Boots’ way for the same reason Crawford didn’t and Spence wouldn’t.

Even a move up to junior middleweight won’t guarantee big fights, with Crawford up there and guys like Vergil Ortiz Jr., Tim Tszyu, and Sebastian Fundora also there, moving in all different directions with separate promotional ties.

If Boots’ business plan is to take hefty DAZN paychecks for fighting “next best availables,” like he did at Showtime (and is doing against Avanesyan this Saturday, let’s be real), then, he’ll be satisfied with his career path over the next few years.

He clearly aspires to more, though.

As things stand today, Ennis has the undeniable ability to rule the welterweight division and unify all the belts as they continue to slip from Terence Crawford’s disinterested hands. He could rule 147 for awhile and then move up to grab a title or two at 154. He could eventually even find himself at 160 with a belt.

But none of that would make him a star like he wants to be or, like, maybe, he SHOULD be.

And none of that would be anybody’s fault. Not really. Sometimes the right guys just come along at the wrong time.