Uisma Lima says his goal is to win every round, look good in defeating heavy favorite Jaron Ennis, and have Eddie Hearn sign him to a promotional contract after Saturday’s junior middleweight headliner on October 11 at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
It would be interesting if Hearn winds up signing Lima to a contract if he’s victorious over ‘Boots’ or if he makes him look bad as Karen Chukhadzhian did in their rematch on November 9, 2024.
Lima (14-1, 10 KOs) acknowledges that people aren’t giving him a chance of winning against the former unified welterweight champion Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs). Still, he feels that’s because they’ve never seen him fight before.
Southpaw Power and Pressure
The southpaw Lima is a big puncher and has a powerful left hand that he can do a lot of damage with. If Ennis is drained from getting down to 154, he could lose to Lima or be made to struggle to win. Lima is a step up in class from Ennis’s last opponent, Eimantas Stanionis, and he could be a problem.
During yesterday’s face-off, Lima looked like a much bigger, healthier fighter compared to the drained and worn-looking ‘Boots’. One could tell from looking at them that Lima, 32, is a natural junior middleweight and isn’t coming down from the 170s or 180s.
In contrast, Ennis appears to have lost a lot of weight to get to 154, which suggests that he’s going to rehydrate a massive amount of water after Friday’s weigh-in. Hearn had said that he felt that Ennis would be stronger and finally at his ideal weight class now that he’s moving up from 147. It doesn’t look that way. From appearances, ‘Boots’ needs to be at middleweight.
“They Don’t Know Me” — Uisma’s Message
“People because they [don’t] know me, they think it’s an easy fight. It’s my goal and my mission to work every round and win every round. People will see that I’m a skillful guy. I have everything. People will see this. ‘This is a top-level fighter,” said Uisma Lima to The Stomping Ground about his wanting to win over fans in his bout against Jaron Ennis on Saturday.
Lima has been off the grid, fighting little-known opposition during his six-year professional career. The only somewhat notable fighter Uisma has fought during his career is Aaron McKenna, whom he lost to by a grueling 10-round unanimous decision on June 16, 2023. That was a fight in which Lima was lighting McKenna up on the outside.
McKenna chose to take it inside to take away Lima’s power. It worked, but it was an ugly fight and hard to score. Lima landed the harder, more eye-catching shots, but McKenna was a little bit busier.
Eddie Hearn in Lima’s Sights
“My goal now is to sign a promotion with me. I need a good promotion and Ed [Hearn] will like me. This Saturday, ‘I will sign with this guy,'” said Lima about his hopes to impress Eddie Hearn so he can be signed with Matchroom. “He’s a good guy. I want to do a deal with him.'”
