Fight fans know two things about unbeaten welterweight Jaron “Boots” Ennis: he is a superb fighter, and he was recently crowned IBF champion by default, this as Terence Crawford was stripped of the IBF belt he won by defeating Errol Spence in their big unification showdown of just four months ago.
Ennis was not and is not happy about the way he became a champion, and neither was/is his father and trainer, Bozy Ennis. Speaking with RingTV.com, Boots, 31-0(28) put his being crowned IBF champion down to “boxing politics,” with the Philly warrior saying nobody should be pointing a finger at him over what happened, that they should be asking Crawford, and Spence, why they didn’t want to fight him.
Now that he is a champion, Ennis wants to get busy proving he is the best welterweight out there. Boots still very much wants to fight Crawford, but does Crawford want it? We must wait and see. In the meantime, there is a very good chance Ennis will face interim WBC welterweight champ Mario Barrios, 28-2(18), next, perhaps in February.
“I wanted to win this in the ring, and I wanted to earn this with my hands,” Boots said of the IBF belt he now holds when speaking with Ring. “I wanted to fight Spence, then Crawford beat Spence, and I wanted to fight Crawford. I want to fight the best and beat the best. I never got my chance to show it. It was out of my hands. It was out of my control. It’s boxing. Politics get in the way. Some people may point a finger at me. Why don’t they point at Crawford, or Spence, or any of the guys who didn’t want to fight me? I was a mandatory for two years.”
Ennis against Barrios could be a good fight, and both Boots and his father have a good deal of respect for Barrios.
“Our goal is to make the first title defence in February against Barrios,” Bozy told Ring. “We don’t know where that fight would be, but we have great respect for Barrios. He is the only one willing to step up and fight us….he’s a true fighter. He’s a class act.”
Bozy also spoke about the possibility of Boots fighting the winner of the Eimantas Stanionis-Keith Thurman fight (set for December 9), some time in the middle of next year. It’s clear Boots wants to fight real fights and stay busy. There is still some talk of Crawford, 40-0(31) fighting Spence, 28-1(22) in a rematch (this a pretty pointless rematch in the opinion of plenty of fans, truth be told), but ask a fight fan, and they will tell you the fight they really want to see at 147 pounds, is Crawford Vs. Ennis.
Whether that fights happens or not, Boots Ennis is raring to keep on proving how he is very much a real world champion.