It doesn’t really matter to Jaron “Boots” Ennis. It could be Terence Crawford, or Manny Pacquiao, or Errol Spence Jr, or even Bakhtiyar Eyubov, who Ennis is scheduled to fight on Friday night at the Ocean Resort Casino, in Atlantic City on Showtime Boxing: Special Edition (9PM ET/6PM PT) 2020 debut. The approach is always […]
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It doesn’t really matter to Jaron “Boots” Ennis. It could be Terence Crawford, or Manny Pacquiao, or Errol Spence Jr, or even Bakhtiyar Eyubov, who Ennis is scheduled to fight on Friday night at the Ocean Resort Casino, in Atlantic City on Showtime Boxing: Special Edition (9PM ET/6PM PT) 2020 debut.
The approach is always the same.
Anyone who faces the Philly welterweight all falls under the identical definition: An opponent who has to adjust to him.
Ennis (24-0, 22 knockouts) is one of the best welterweight prospects in the world. He can fight either orthodox or southpaw. What makes him that much more dangerous is he develops a game plan as a fight progresses—making him difficult to game plan for and unpredictable.
It’s the same approach he’ll take into the ring against Eyubov (14-1-1, 12 KOs).
The 10-round Ennis-Eyubov bout will be the co-feature under the Claressa Shields-Ivana Habazin junior middleweight main event, coupled with titlist Alicia “The Empress” Napoleon-Espinosa (12-1, 7 KOs) taking on Elin Cederroos (7-0, 4 KOs) in a super middleweight unification bout.
To Ennis, it’s the same-old, same-old.
“I don’t know too much about (Eyubov), I just know that he’s short (listed at 5-foot-6),” said Ennis, who’s 5-10. “He’s listed at 5-6, but he might 5-5, maybe 5-4. I don’t know much about the guy or his past, but he has to adjust to me.
“They always have to adjust to me. I’ll take my time, set my big shots up and get him out of there. It’s scheduled for 10, but this won’t last 10. The longest I’ve gone before is six rounds (which he’s done twice).
“This isn’t about getting any more work in. This about getting in there and knocking him out. I want to get in and get out. There’s no need to waste time.”
Ennis, 22, has a simple game plan for 2020: Keep winning until one of the name fighters at 147 is willing to fight him.
“That’s it,” Ennis said. “I have time. My time will come. As long as I keep doing my thing and winning, they’re going to have to face me.”
Bozy Ennis, Boots’ father and trainer, knows Eyubov is from Kazakhstan. That’s where it begins and ends.
“I know he’s 14-1 and he’s a good fighter, but we don’t really make a fight plan,” Bozy said. “Boots can handle any style. We don’t worry about the other guy. The other guy always has to worry about us. We’ll pick him apart in the first round.
“No one knows what they’re getting from Boots. He can hurt you with any punch, from any side, right side or left side. This is the first of a big year for us. I respect all fighters. You put on gloves, that takes courage. I don’t care who you are.
“But it doesn’t mean we can’t believe in ourselves and what we’re capable of doing. Boots is ready and we were working for anyone. We wanted Terrel Williams, or (Justin) DeLoach. We asked for them, and at first, Williams wanted to fight. Then he changed his mind. We try to get better opposition, but no one wants to fight Boots.”
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The post Jaron “Boots” Ennis is ready to log another day at the office on Friday night in AC appeared first on The Ring.
