By Allan Fox: WBA ‘regular’ welterweight champion Jamal James weighed in at 145.25 lbs for his title defense against Radzhab Butaev in the main event on Showtime on Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. #4 WBA Butaev (13-0, 10 KOs) weighed in at 146.25 lbs.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/SHOWTIME)
These two are part of the World Boxing Association’s four-fighter tournament that they recently ordered in a move to reduce the number of titles they have at 147 from two to one.
The other fight that’s part of the tournament is WBA ‘Super World’ welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas defending against #1 WBA Eimantas Stanionis. Ugas and Stanionis still haven’t negotiated their match yet.
In the co-feature weights, welterweight contender Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis weighed in at 146.5 lbs for his 11 round fight against Thomas Dulorme.
Ennis (27-0, 25 KOs) believes he’ll be the mandatory challenger for one of the titles at 147 after he beats the 31-year-old Dulorme on Saturday. The always tough Dulorme (25-6-1,16 KOs) weighed in at 146 lbs.
Dulorme is coming into the fight with a two-fight losing streak, and it’s going to be hard for him to try and win this fight against the younger, stronger 24-year-old Ennis.
In other weights, unbeaten lightweight Michael Rivera (21-0, 14 KOs) weighed in at 138-lbs for his 10 round fight against Argentinan Matias Romero (24-1, 8 KOs). Romero, who is coming off a narrow 12 round unanimous decision loss to Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz last March, weighed in at 135 lbs.
“I’m ready to rock & roll and ready to go,” said Jaron Ennis to Behind The Gloves. “I was in the back warming up. He [Dulorme] did good, but I’m not [Eimantas] Stanionis,” said Ennis about Dulorme’s last fight in April, which he lost by a 12 round unanimous decision.
“I’m a whole different animal talent-wise, skill-wise, power-punching-wise. It’s on a whole different level. If you watch me fight, you won’t be able to do anything.
“It’s different when you’re in there with me. When it gets hot in that kitchen, it gets crazy. I’m not worried about what those guys did or anything,” said Ennis about Dulorme’s fights with Jessie Vargas and Terence Crawford.
“I’m going to go in there and have fun and do me and put on a beautiful performance for you guys and come home victorious with that knockout. That’s the goal for me. Stay calm, stay relaxed and have fun, put on a show, and easy work.
“I’m comfortable both ways. On Saturday, if I wanted to, I could fight right-handed or all southpaw. I’m that comfortable. Everything is that natural for me, though.
“I’m ranked for every belt, so I feel there’s no way of getting around it,” said Ennis on him wanting to get a title shot. “I feel like I got to be mandatory because these guys will go around me. They’re going to go around me as long as they can. So, I got to be mandatory and we’re going to make it happen. I’ll be mandatory after this fight for one of these belts.
“My style is my dad and my brother put together because my brother was Derrick and was fast and my dad was fast. So it was everything I wanted. So I got everything, power, speed, slickness, everything. It’s from them. The fighters I did watch coming up were Floyd, Pernell, Roy Jones, and a little bit of James Toney. I started watching Andre Ward too.
“I know respect to him [Jamal James], but you know everybody is coming out here to see me because I’m fan-friendly and I bring the skills and the attributes behind everything. I got the whole Philly coming with me. So it’s going to be heavy on Saturday night,” said Ennis.