Trainer Stephen Edwards believes the phenom Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis should stay at 147 for as long as he can make weight and wait for fighters like Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez, and Subriel Matias to move up someday to fight him.
The Elusive Superfight
The problem with Edwards’ logic is that even if Teofimo and Haney move up to 147 in the distant future, there’s no guarantee that either of them would agree to fight Boots (31-0, 28 KOs).
If you look at how Haney and Teofimo have been matched, their management has been very selective in their opponent choices, especially with Devin. When has Haney ever fought someone who wasn’t old and much smaller than him and had talent? Haney and his dad, Bill, are opportunists and always have been.
If Boots chooses to stay at 147, he could wait until his mid-30s for a fight against Haney or Teofimo, thinking that those matches will happen one day. Those matches may never happen, leaving Ennis with years of wasted time, thinking that these highly selective, cherry-picking fighters would eventually fight him.
Haney would never fight a guy like Ennis without the Saudis offering him mega-money, and they have shown zero interest in the 147-lb division.
154 Offers Options
Edwards doesn’t think Boots should move up to 154, even though he would have options to fight these guys:
Terence Crawford
Tim Tszyu
Israil Madrimov
Xander Zayas
Brian Mendoza
Erickson Lubin
Sebastian Fundora
“He [Boots] just needs to fight the best [available opponent]. Imagine if Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez, and Matias moved up [to 147]. It’s super fights, and they’re just one division away from him,” said Stephen Edwards to the Fighthype’s YouTube channel, arguing that Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis should stay at welterweight rather than move up to 154 to have more available options that would immediately be available to him.
“We don’t know who is struggling to make weight or what. If those guys move up, we got super fights. I think Boots is fine. He just got to get busy and stay in front of the public’s eye, and he’ll get a fight that his talent calls for.
“I don’t think he needs to move up,” Stephen continued about Boots Ennis, believing he should continue to stay at 147, hoping that someday one of the 140-lb champions will come up to welterweight to fight him.
