Uisma Lima will be ruining, indeed, tearing up a whole lot of big plans if he manages to pull off the upset tonight, live on DAZN, in Philadelphia and hand Jaron Ennis his first pro loss, this in “Boot’s” 154-pound debut. But this is exactly what Lima, 14-1(10), and never stopped, says he will do.
Speaking with The Ring, the 32-year-old road warrior from Angola says he doesn’t like Ennis’s attitude, his brashness, his cockiness.
“Americans Are Too Cocky,” Says Lima
At the risk of offending the US fight fans, Lima stated that Ennis, like the majority of American fighters in his opinion, is “so cocky, so confident.” Lima says he will humble Boots tonight.
“Boots is American,” Lima said. “They’re so cocky, so confident. He thinks he’s the best of the best. I need to surprise them. I think I will surprise many people in this fight. I think I’m a good boxer, but because people don’t know me, I don’t fight in big events. Since I do boxing, I started my journey alone. Me and my team in Portugal, we win all my fights. We win. With Boots, we put in the best hard work in this camp. I feel ready, not only for Boots, for anyone in the division.”
Make no mistake, the pressure in this fight is on Boots. After all the talk of impending greatness, mostly coming from promoter Eddie Hearn, Ennis now has to shine, not only in tonight’s fight, but pretty much every time out.
Upset Alert: Don’t Sleep on Uisma Lima
For Lima, tonight’s fight presents a great opportunity to gatecrash the world stage. In a way, Lima cannot lose. Lima is fully expected by what, around 90 percent of fans, to lose? So even if he does lose but puts on a good showing, Lima’s stock may well rise.
But Lima wants to do better than that; he wants to win. Lima wants to humble Boots while at the same time showing the boxing world who he is. Is there a chance, maybe a small one, of an upset going down later on tonight?