Jaron Ennis has finally spoken out after his super-welterweight debut was made official earlier this week.
The unbeaten 28-year-old from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is set to make the move up to 154lbs later this year, drawing the curtain on his welterweight campaign where he reigned as the unified WBA and IBF world champion up until the beginning of this month.
‘Boots’ will face Portugal’s Uisma Lima in a non-title super-welterweight showdown on Saturday October 11 at the Wells Fargo Center in his hometown of Philadelphia, as he begins his journey towards becoming a two-weight world champion.
It appears that his clash with Lima isn’t exactly what he had in mind for his 154lb debut however, after it was reported that the 28-year-old had actually set his sights on a number of alternative high-ranked opponents.
Speaking to Fight Hub TV, Ennis admitted that he was ‘surprised’ about the backlash from the choice of opponent but did admit he wanted Jesus Alejandro Ramos or Serhii Bohachuk but that Limas was the only one available who accepted the offer.
“I mean surprised yeah [about the backlash], because that’s not like who we wanted, you know. I asked for [Jesus Alejandro] Ramos and [Serhii] Bohachuk and all those other guys you know.
Lima was the only one that was available that took it, everybody else either injured or got a fight coming up or mandatory, and like I said before, I’m just glad somebody took it and he’s a top 10 guy and he’s IBO champion so you know, we going to handle him.”
Should he come through his clash with Lima unscathed, Ennis could go on to do battle with fellow countryman and reigning WBC interim super-welterweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr next, after it was speculated that the teams of both fighters were in negotiations for a fight that is expected to take place during the early stages of 2026.
