By Brian Webber: Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis says Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman was offered a fight with Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis by Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza but didn’t take it.
Thurman said last week that he would fight Boots Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) if the match were offered to him and he couldn’t get a title shot, which obviously hasn’t happened since he lost his WBA welterweight title four years ago against 40-year-old Manny Pacquiao.
It would be nice if Thurman chose to fight Ennis, but the Florida native is more interested in giving interviews than fighting at this stage of his stalled career.
Boots has bigger things ahead than focusing on inactive washed fighters that have lost their ambition, like Thurman. Ennis wants to fight for the IBF belt held by Terence Crawford.
Bozy says these fighters are on Boots’ hitlist for his next fight: Eimantis Stanionis, Yordenis Ugas & Cody Crowley.
Fighting Stanionis would be ideal, as he holds the WBA secondary welterweight title. Getting a whole of that belt would be great for Boots, making him a world champion for the first time at 26.
The IBF has got to force Crawford’s hand soon because without them taking action, he could sit on it for ages, using it for validation purposes.
Thurman was offered Boots fight
“What I make of that is it was just talk. He knows we have been wanting to fight him,” said Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis to YSM Sports Media about Keith Thurman saying he’d fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis if a contract was offered to him.
“All he has to say is if he wants to fight us, and we can sign & seal the deal. It’s as simple as that. Yes, he offered the fight with Keith. He told me out of his own mouth that he offered the fight,” said Bozy about Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza offering the fight to Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman to face Boots Ennis.
Thurman has been waiting for a big payday fight against Errol Spence Jr. and Crawford to fall into his lap without him having to do anything to go get. ‘One Time’ is waiting for these fights to fall into his lap, with him waiting passively, doing nothing, and sitting idle.
Thurman has become the welterweight division’s version of Andy Ruiz Jr., with him just waiting for a payday fight and no longer staying active trying to earn those fights.
There’s no chance that Thurman would fight someone like Boots Ennis because he obviously realizes he’d lose, and that would ruin any chances of him getting a big payday against the likes of Crawford or Spence.
“Next time you talk to him [Espinoza], you ask him, and he’ll tell you,” said Ennis. “We going to beat him [Thurman]. That’s how it’s going to turn out, and we’re also going to stop him.
“But they all say that, though,” said Bozy when told that Thurman said that Boots Ennis hasn’t fought the elite fighters. “When he fought those other guys.’Oh, this is his hardest test. This is going to be a top-quality guy. This guy is that.’ Then when he [Boots] beats the guy, they say, ‘He hasn’t fought nobody.’
“You guys just got finished saying this guy was this, and this guy was that. The same with Lipinet. A good fighter. They’re trying to say Lipinet was nobody? Lipinet was world champion. He was somebody. Also, Dulorme. The same with Dulorme,” said Bozy.
Boots Ennis is getting the Crawford treatment now by the top fighters choosing to dismiss him as a viable opponent, saying he hasn’t fought nobody.
Thurman was offered Boots fight
“He’s been in with the best. He was giving Crawford problems until Crawford caught him,” said Bozy about Thomas Dulorme. “So, these guys were nothing after Boots made them look like nothing. You can’t please these people.”
Boots Ennis did a far better job defeating Dulorme than Crawford did, and lot of fans forget about that. Boots knocked out Dulorme in the first round in 2021. Crawford stopped Dulorme in the sixth round in 2015 in a fight that was razor close.
“You keep on winning, and once you beat somebody else, ‘Oh, he was nothing. He was supposed to beat him,'” said Ennis. “But you just got finished complaining about him. ‘Oh, this is the best fighter he ever fought.’
“Then you change the tune after we beat him and knock him out. So you can’t please these guys. We don’t try to please nobody. We just do what we got to do. They either like it or they don’t like it.
“We got a lot of people on our hit list. I’m not going to say Thurman because he’s talking smack, but we want him, Ugas, Stanionis. We want all the top guys. Crowley, whatever his name is. They’re all good fights right there. They’re all on the list. We want the top guys,” said Bozy.
It’s unlikely that Stanionis,Ugas or Crowley are going to want to fight Ennis unless he can get his hands on the IBF title. There’s too much risk without reward for them to fight him.
