The path has been set for Jaron "Boots" Ennis to become a two-division world champion.
The path has been set for Jaron "Boots" Ennis to become a two-division world champion.
Ennis will make his super welterweight debut against the little-known Uisma Lima on Oct. 11 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Matchroom Boxing confirmed Monday.
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Ennis vs. Lima will be a final eliminator for the WBA super welterweight world title. Terence "Bud" Crawford, who challenges Saul "Canelo" Alvarez for the undisputed super middleweight championship in September, is the full champion. Crawford is not expected to return to the weight class. Instead, WBA (Regular) champion Yoenis Tellez will likely be upgraded to a full titleist, with Ennis as his mandatory.
Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) formerly held the unified WBA and IBF welterweight world titles. He was upgraded to IBF champion in the aftermath of Terence Crawford's exit from the division in 2023 and managed two title defenses in 2024 before emerging victorious in a unification matchup with WBA titleholder Eimantas Stanionis in April in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The Andolan Lima (14-1, 10 KOs), now based in Portugal, suffered his only career defeat when he stepped up to middleweight on short notice to face Aaron McKenna in June 2023. Lima is on a four-fight win streak — and impressively, all four fights saw Lima travel to his opponents' backyards, ripping three unbeaten records in the process.
"Boots" recently penned a new multi-year, multi-fight promotional deal with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom. Within that extension, Ennis signed to face WBC interim champion Vergil Ortiz Jr., Hearn declared last week. Ennis and Ortiz Jr. were set to clash in February in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but Ennis withdrew from the matchup after learning that it would be at 154 pounds, rather than 147 pounds, as Ennis believed he had unfinished business at welterweight.
Category: General Sports
