Jaron Ennis (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
IBF welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis put on a show in his DAZN/Matchroom debut.
Ennis remained undefeated in front of his hometown crowd in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Arena, dropping David Avanesyan and scoring the TKO victory when his opponent couldn’t answer the bell to start the sixth round.
According to IFL TV, Avanesyan may have suffered a facial injury that forced the retirement on his stool.
Here is a look at the knockdown Ennis scored to close the fifth that led to the stoppage.
Ennis seemed intent on staying in the pocket with Avanesyan and putting on a good show.
You have to wonder if he was trying to avoid what happened to Shakur Stevenson last week when he was accused of putting on a boring performance in front of his hometown fans in Newark.
No matter the case, the crowd was packed and fired up all night, as many in attendance said on social media following the fight.
Here is a look at the highlights from Ennis’ win.
Ennis probably could have been a bit more elusive and used his athleticism to outclass Avanesyan, but the champion clearly wanted a stoppage victory.
Ennis’ assault on Avanesyan’s body is what opened up the huge left hand that put Avanesyan on the canvas, and it might be the punch that broke his jaw. According to CompuBox, 47% of Ennis’ landed punches were body shots, and 53% of his landed power punches were also body punches.
It wasn’t Avanesyan’s decision to halt the fight; the ring doctor called an end to the bout after examining him following the fifth round. Ennis landed 32 of 53 (60%) of his power punches en route to the knockdown and victory in what proved to be the final round of the fight. After the fight, Ennis was fed a few potential names for his next opponent.
He seemed interested in a fight with Terence Crawford, who moved up to 154 pounds to take on Israil Madrimov for his WBA super welterweight title on August 3.
While Crawford took to X to respond to Ennis’ promoter Eddie Hearn’s attempts to set the fight up, the fact is that the two fighters may just be in the wrong timeframes in their careers.
Ennis’ arrival as an elite welterweight may not be happening at the best time. Most of his top potential opponents are either a weight class above or below him, and as of yet, he hasn’t turned into the sort of big name that resonates with the casual fan.
Meanwhile, he is one of the best fighters in the world. That combination is usually a surefire formula to keep a fighter avoided by most promoters of top champions.
It’ll be interesting to see who he gets in his next fight, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for a clash with Crawford, who has Madrimov, a rematch with Errol Spence, and perhaps a dream fight with Canelo Alvarez in his sights.
