Trainer Rob Acosta says Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis has ascended to the status of the “new face of boxing” following his elevation to IBF welterweight champion after Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford was stripped by the sanctioning body.
Acosta has worked with the talented 26-year-old phenom ‘Boots’ Ennis for ten camps, and he maintains that he’s now shown “40%” of his potential yet in the ring. He crushes or dominates his opponents without needing to switch gears on them to show the other parts of his game.
Rob feels that it’s disappointing the method for how the unbeaten Boots Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) was made IBF 147-lb champion, as he didn’t get the opportunity to rip it from the hands of the 36-year-old Crawford.
Many boxing fans believe that Crawford didn’t like his chances against the young killer Boots Ennis, so he fled to the junior middleweight division to give him safe asylum.
In a perfect world, Boots would have fought Crawford, beaten the old timer, and taken his four belts from him to send him to the 154-lb division off the back of a loss.
But with Errol Spence Jr. activating the rematch clause in the contract for his previous fight with the Omaha, Nebraska native Crawford, there was no possibility of him defending his IBF belt against Ennis, not that he would have.
Crawford’s trainer, Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre, revealed yesterday that Bud had no intention of defending his IBF belt against Boots Ennis because he brings “nothing to the table” for him; hence, the IBF did the right thing by stripping Crawford because he wasn’t going to defend against Boots.
What some boxing fans want to know is whether Crawford would have vacated his IBF title or waited to be stripped. Given that he still hasn’t relinquished his WBA, WBC & WBO welterweight titles, it’s likely that he’d have held onto his IBF belt until the bitter end without defending it.
Some would argue that it’s selfish for Crawford to be sitting on his welterweight titles like a mother hen and holding them for no reason other than strictly for status purposes.
It’s up to the other WBA/WBC/WBO to determine if Crawford intends to return to the ring to defend his 147-lb titles. A timeline should be given to Terence to inform them if he plans on defending their belts or giving them up.
Boots Ennis = “New Face of Boxing”
“It’s about time that he gets the credit that he deserves,” said trainer Rob Acosta to Manager Marty about Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis being made IBF welterweight champion following the stripping of Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford.
I see a lot of Spence fans mad at me and jumping on Boots sack now! I love it 😂😂😂 this the same shit I got and heard for 5 years I was scared this and that. It’s ok everyone just except it I’m great and yall mad about it.
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) November 14, 2023
“The kid, and I don’t want to use the term ‘Kid’ in a young version, but the young man [Boots Ennis] has a lot of potential. He’s definitely feared. He’s definitely the ‘New Face of Boxing,’ and he’s definitely the 147-lb man. He’s the man to beat, but he deserves what he got.
“He deserves the IBF. It sucks that it happened the way that it did because he didn’t fight nobody for it, and he was kind of promoted in the sense,” Acosta continued about Jaron Ennis. “If you want the title so bad, go and take it from him.”
The well-known top contenders, like Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman, Errol Spence, Eimantas Stanionis, and Mario Barrios, are in Boots Ennis’ crosshairs, and he’s made it known that he’d like to defend against one of them in his next fight.
Thus far, Boots hasn’t gotten a nibble from any of them after throwing his fishing line in the water. None have taken the hook yet, but that’s on them. Those guys are aging, especially the balding 35-year-old ‘One Time’ Thurman, and he needs to make a move before he throws away what’s left of his once-promising career.
“Boots has always been a hard-working kid. He’s always been a hard-working guy. His dad [Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis] don’t play not s**t,” said Acosta. “I worked with his dad for four years. A lot of credit to his team, to L to Bo, and his brothers.
“They did an amazing job with the kid on the way up, and he deserves that s**t. I think he’s going to unify a lot faster than any other 147-lb division because, in reality, he’s coming into the weight class when guys that we wanted to see fight [Terence Crawford, Errol Spence & Danny Garcia] are no longer there,” said Acosta about the 26-year-old Boots Ennis ascending at a time when the old dogs have either left the 147-lb division or are in the process of departing for 154 and higher.
It’s too bad that the old guard is in the process of leaving the 147-lb division, as it would have been good for Boots Ennis to take their scalps before they left because that would send his popularity through the roof.
Jaron Ennis hasn’t shown 40% of what he can do
“So, right now, this is a good time for the young guys to come up and say, ‘I want a piece of that. Let me show the world what I can do,’ but it’s also for Boot’s advantage as well for him to show the world that he can do what he’s supposed to do,” said Acosta.
The welterweight division is barren of young talents right now, with the exception of Boots Ennis It’s going to take a while for fighters that are currently toiling away in the amateur ranks to move to the pros to get on Boots’ radar.
“Listen, I worked with that man [Ennis] for ten camps or something like that for three or four years, and I’m going to be honest with you. He’s been a spectacular type of athlete. He hasn’t even shown 40% of what that man could do in the ring yet.”
It’s scary to think that Ennis hasn’t even shown 40% of his potential, but that shows you how great he is. He’s beating these guys without switching to second gears, and it’s not even sporting.
“That slow motion. That’s him having fun. You haven’t seen nothing yet, and it’s scary. I’m telling you that I’ve seen that young man do a lot of things in sparring and in training. That man can do what he do,” said Acosta about Boots Ennis.
