Ring Exclusive: An Inside Look At The Boots Ennis Signing With Eddie Hearn And Matchroom

PHILADELPHIA, PA — When Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing announced the signing last Wednesday, April 10 of talented IBF welterweight titlist Jaron “Boots” Ennis to a multi-fight deal, it was an uppercut that hit the boxing world from nowhere. Many trumpeted the signing, while others scratched their heads bewildered as to why.

Ennis, the gifted 26-year-old Philadelphian with the sterling 31-0 record, and 28 knockouts, is The Ring’s No. 2 welterweight contender and de facto No. 1, considering Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr., who are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, will be soon moving to 154. The hovering dilemma Team Boots has faced is having more fights over contractual entanglements outside of the ring than fights in it during Ennis’ eight-year career. Because of it, he has hit more downtime than any one opponent.

And his father, trainer and manager Derek “Bozy” Ennis was deservedly frustrated over it.

“We had to sign with Eddie, we just got tired of waiting, and we were waiting for Cody Crowley (the IBF mandatory). You had people saying that they were in contact with us, and they were lying. Everyone was trying to be slick,” Bozy said. “We got tired of waiting around. Eddie worked with us. I have gotten to know Eddie through working with (Cuban gold medalist and Matchroom fighter) Andy Cruz and he’s been great. We have a deal. There are things we cannot completely disclose.

“Eddie is a good guy. He knows what we want, and he knows what we are looking for. I won’t talk bad for the fights we had with PBC. They treated us really well every time we fought for them. We are trying to get as many fights as we can get this year. Boots likes to stay busy. He only fought one time last year. We are not sitting around. We have done enough of that. That was the whole key to everything. We are into April already. We never received anything specific. Time stays still for no one. It was frustrating. We are going to fight in June or July. A big part of this is getting Boots’ first title defense in either Philly or Atlantic City, but we want Philly.”

The waiting may not have been a PBC problem, Ring has learned, as much as it was a Cody Crowley problem. First, Boots was never contractually obligated to PBC (PBC does not comment on fighters that are not under contract with them). Showtime Boxing served as the conduit to the Team Ennis-PBC connection, through Stephen Espinoza, former President of Showtime Sports, a strong advocate of Boots Ennis. Last September, Crowley (22-0, 9 KOs) was offered $500,000 to fight Boots, multiple sources confirmed to The Ring, for the Showtime David Benavidez-Demetrius Andrade PPV for November 25, 2023, in Las Vegas.

It was a career-best offer for the Canadian southpaw. Crowley wanted more. That offer kept going up, verbally north of $650,000. Crowley tried pushing it to the range of $750,000. Without getting an answer on that offer, he wanted even more, multiple sources confirmed, at $1 million. That was flat out rejected. Crowley was the B-side against Boots, and the $650,000 offer was more than double for any of Ennis’ previous opponents.

If he lost to Boots, Crowley was even offered a comeback by PBC for a reasonable price, multiple sources confirmed, and it turned into more waiting.

Team Ennis got tired of waiting for Crowley.

Hearn could build Boots globally. It looks like Hearn wants to start big—far larger than playing the Crowley waiting game.

Since signing Boots, Hearn’s first offer to Crowley was $250,000, multiple sources confirmed.

In truth, behind the scenes, Hearn and Team Ennis would like to bypass Crowley completely, and in what would be a brilliant move is set up Ennis’ first IBF title defense against Matchroom’s Conor Benn (23-0, 14 KOs) in Philadelphia sometime in June or July. It is a move that makes sense, considering Benn’s suspension by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) when he tested positive twice for the female fertility drug clomifene in the build-up for Matchroom’s October 2022 catchweight clash with British rival Chris Eubank Jr. The National Anti-Doping Panel, which is independent of the BBBofC, lifted Benn’s provisional suspension, which paved the way for Benn to fight in the United States, where his last two fights have been.

An Ennis-Benn fight would have some tread in Philadelphia, which is no longer a vibrant fight town or even a “sports town,” as much as it is a “Philadelphia Eagles’” town. But Ennis-Benn has some cachet to it, enough to possibly fill a venue like Temple University’s 10,206-seat Liacouras Center (with considerable Brit support).

Where does Ennis go at 147?

His other welterweight options, ironically, are a pair of fighters from PBC, the banner in which he fought his most recent fights under. WBA “regular” welterweight titlist Eimantas Stanionis, or WBC “interim” welterweight titlist Mario Barrios will both be fighting on the Canelo Alvarez- Jaime Munguia PBC show on the May 4 undercard in Las Vegas.

“Wow! What a signing! I’ve watched this young man for many years, and I always believed he would become a pound-for-pound great, and I have no doubt he is already the greatest fighter in the division,” said Hearn in the crafted press release last week. “To win the race to sign Jaron is a massive coup for Matchroom Boxing and DAZN. Holding the IBF title in one of boxing’s glamour divisions places Jaron front and center for some of the biggest fights out there in the sport, and we plan to deliver them for him. Jaron has everything needed to become a household name both in the sport and in the sporting hotbed of his Philadelphia hometown, where we are committed to building him.

“Fight fans can get excited for his return in the summer as he looks to hunt down the biggest fights that will elevate him to the pound-for-pound list.”

The clock continues to tick on the talented Ennis. He last fought in July 2023, when Boots stopped Roiman Villa in the 10th round in Atlantic City. It is now nine months since the last time he fought for money.

No one questions his ability. No one questions his desire. He lives, breathes, and eats boxing. After his career is over, he will follow in his father’s footsteps and be a trainer. He has already made inroads at 26 in that area. Anytime there is a fight in Philadelphia, Ennis and his family are there.

Team Ennis is everything that is good about boxing.

But he has also been a victim of being “too good,” if there is such a thing. Spence Jr. and Crawford waited and finally fought each other. They were not about to jeopardize their status and wanted no parts of Ennis when they were welterweights, which, tragically in the skewed sport of boxing, made sense: Too great a risk for too little the reward. In November, Crawford opted not to defend the IBF 147-pound title, which the sanctioning body awarded Ennis.

“It’s not the way I wanted to win a world championship,” Ennis told The Ring. “I definitely wanted to win this in the ring, and I wanted to earn this with my hands. I did not expect to get the title like that. I wanted to fight Spence, then Crawford beat Spence, and I wanted to fight Crawford. I want to fight and beat the best. I never got my chance to show it. It’s not the way I wanted it. It was out of my hands. It was out of my control. I’m not about to give it back, because people have to fight me. I have something these guys want. They have to come to me now. I’m always ready to fight.

“It’s boxing. Politics get in the way. Some people may point a finger at me. Why don’t they point a finger at Crawford, or Spence, or any of the guys who did not want to fight me? I was a mandatory for two years. This is my time. Point at the guys who didn’t want to fight me. It was out of my hands and there was nothing I could do. It’s the same situation that happened to (former WBO junior middleweight titlist) Tim Tszyu. No one called him a ‘paper champion.’ I could care less what people have to say. All I do is train and handle my business.”

If it were that easy.

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been working for Ring Magazine/RingTV.com since October 1997 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Follow @JSantoliquito

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