ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — The unified champion of the welterweight division was last seen two years ago when Terence Crawford took all the belts from Errol Spence Jr. in the four-belt title era that rarely occurs.
Boxing, though comes to appreciate when the titles are unified despite the brevity of a champion holding that distinction. Crawford has since moved on and will eventually vacate a share of the WBA and interim WBO 154-pound titles with a September mega-fight and quest to dethrone Canelo Alvarez of his super middleweight belts in Saudi Arabia.
At historic Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey Saturday evening, a venue where epic fights have been held, including two of three in the trilogy between the late former champion Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward, Jaron “Boots” Ennis etched his name in boxing history unifying a good portion of the welterweight titles in six rounds taking the WBA status from Eimantas Stanionis what could be determined as a complete one-sided fight.
He left the ring before a sellout crowd of over 10,000 with the IBF and WBA titles, though not undisputed with Brian Norman Jr. (WBO) and Mario Barrios (WBC) the other title holders. Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn said after the fight that he has talked with Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank about Norman and putting more semblance to totally unifying the titles.
An accomplishment for Ennis who has been seeking to build a legacy, first to unify the division and having his eyes on taking another championship in the competitive competition at junior middleweight. Ennis used his power and ability to control the ring, but based on Compubox Punch stats was not at his best.
He landed 19 percent of his total punches of Stanionis’ 31. However out-landing Stanionis (Lithuania) 23-9 in power punches and handed the former champion his first defeat. Ennis had a third successful defense after first winning the title as an interim champion when Crawford relinquished the belt and moved up in weight.
“The biggest part was me having my fun, being myself and having a a live body in front of me,” Ennis said. “I put on the show, I had my fun. I used speed, power, defense, I showed you a little bit of inside game.”
But the inside game is now in the hands of Ennis. He defeated an elite champion and this fight had the top two in a division that was always superior. Former two-time champion Danny Garcia once dominated the division with Crawford, Shawn Porter, Spence, and others. Ennis also proudly brings a unified championship back to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania also and still where Garcia resides.
But this is boxing and putting the politics aside there is no telling what is next for Ennis. He is the champion and any number of major fights will await. He envisioned a legacy and unifying titles in the division. Hearn said there is no debate about the 27-year-old Ennis being at the top of his game and in that elite status.
The sixth round was Ennis continuing to use a jab that was elite. He connected to the body and a flurry of body punches caused Stanionis to take a knee.
“I felt like I was just getting in the groove,” he said. “And what’s crazy was I had a dream I was going to stop him just like this in the seventh round, It came true.”
The realty though, this is not a dream. Ennis is a unified champion and a legacy has begun.
THE UNDERCARD: Raymond Ford (17-1-1, 8 KO’s) a former featherweight champion notched his second win since moving up in weight to junior lightweight with a dominant 10-round unanimous decision win over Thomas Mattice (22-5-1, 17 KO’s).
Ford though came out with an easy victory. He landed 128 of 510 total punches compared to 24 of 126 of Mattice according to Compubox stats. In addition, Mattice’s 24 landed punches ranks tied for second fewest in a 10-round fight and 126 thrown also the least all time.
“I did want the stoppage, the knockout,” he said. “It was times where I hurt him at time. And I let him grab me. He was a smart veteran.”
Ford called out Eduardo Nunez fighting for the vacant IBF junior lightweight title. Nunez opposes Masanori Rikiishi for the vacant title on May 28 in Japan…
Welterweight Franco Ocampo of Argentina was stopped in four rounds as Shakhram Giyasov (Uzbekistan) was dominant and could be a potential and next opponent for Ennis. Ocampo came into the fight three pounds over the weight limit and the fight was stopped at 1:57 of the fourth round.
Rich Mancuso is a senior writer and contributor at LatinoSports.com – X: @Ring786, Facebook.com Rich Mancuso
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