Tim Bradley warns that Uisma Lima could potentially defeat Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis this Saturday night in their junior middleweight clash on DAZN. He says Lima (14-1, 10 KOs) is “hungry,” and he’s not a “slouch” that some people think he is.
Bradley believes that Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) lacks self-belief, and he’s already been exposed by Karen Chukhadzhian last year when he was embarrassed in front of his fans at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
The Lima Threat Is Real
“‘Boots’ is dangerous. He doesn’t believe he’s dangerous. Look at the dude he’s fighting this weekend. He better not get beat by this dude. This dude is hungry. This dude is no slouch. He’s ready,” said Tim Bradley on his channel about Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis’ opponent Uisma Lima being a threat to him this Saturday.
If Jaron loses to Lima on Saturday, it’s going to mess up his plans for stardom. Ennis has been talking about how he’s going to defeat Lima and then start capturing world titles at 154. His promoter, Eddie Hearn, is saying that he’s the “replacement” for Terence Crawford.
The Crawford Comparison
Style-wise, ‘Boots’ has the talent to be an improvement over Crawford. What’s troubling is how he’s lagging in stepping it up against upper-level competition. When Terence was 28, he wasn’t fighting great opposition either. The two fighters he fought when he was the same age are these guys:
- Henry Lundy
- Dierry Jean
Those are journeymen-level fighters, and well below Ennis’ opponent, Uisma Lima, this Saturday. They’re not on the level of ‘Boots’ last two opponents, Eimantas Stanionis and Karen Chukhadzhian.
Many people forget about who Crawford was fighting when he was Ennis’s age. If you wonder why Crawford didn’t become a star earlier in his career, the weak opposition he was routinely fighting is the cause.
Missed Opportunities at 147
Ennis has sabotaged his own career by not choosing to fight Teofimo Lopez, Vergil Ortiz Jr., Devin Haney, and Brian Norman Jr. when he had the opportunity. Bradley says ‘Boots’ could have fought Terence Crawford as well. It’s bad enough that Ennis didn’t fight Vergil Jr.
That alone was a big mistake on his part, and he’s made things worse for himself by agreeing to fight Lima instead of one of the notable contenders in his debut at 154.
“We never know what someone is fighting for. Crawford already said Boots had several opportunities to fight him. And ‘Boots’ said, ‘No thank you,’ just like he said with all the rest of them,” said Bradley.
Tim then steered the subject from the Lima fight to how Ennis had struggled in his rematch with Karen Chukhadzhian last year on November 9, 2024.
Karen was putting hands on ‘Boots,’ hitting with clean shots, and seemingly couldn’t miss with anything he threw. What saved Ennis was Chukhadzhian gassing out in the championship rounds.
Bradley points out that Karen isn’t on the same level as Terence Crawford, which few fans would argue against. On that night, Crawford wouldn’t have stood in the trenches the way Chukhadzhian did to exchange with Ennis the way he did. That’s not his style.
Crawford is a mover, and that’s why he became a big PPV draw. He still isn’t a pay-per-view attraction, other than his fights against Canelo Alvarez and Errol Spence.
Written by Nation Vegas, Boxing Analyst covering world title fights since 2013.