A potential future rival of Jaron Ennis has questioned the desire of the unbeaten star just days after his latest ring appearance.
The 28-year-old Philadelphia-native made his much anticipated return to the ring in his hometown on October 11, stopping Portugal’s Uisma Lima in the opening round of their clash at the Wells Fargo Center to capture the vacant WBA interim super-welterweight title.
‘Boots’ previously reigned as the unified WBA and IBF world welterweight champion, achieving this feat back in April when he blasted out Lithuania’s Eimantas Stanionis in the 6th round of their Atlantic City showdown.
As he begins his push towards becoming a two-weight world champion, Ennis has been sent a stern message by reigning IBF super-welterweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev, who has actually questioned the American’s decision to face Lima instead of him in an interview with The Ring Magazine.
“If Ennis wanted to fight me, he wouldn’t have fought who he just fought. No one knows who [Lima] was. He was the IBF champion in a lower weight class and he moved up, I could’ve fought him, if he wants to fight me or Ortiz, why pick [Lima]?”
Murtazaliev has held the IBF world title at 154lbs since April of last year, stopping Germany’s Jack Culcay in the penultimate round of their clash to capture the vacant title.
The 32-year-old from Russia made the first successful defence of his crown almost one year ago when he stopped Tim Tszyu in the third round of their Florida clash. Murtazaliev is expected to make his return to the ring in the next few months, with Ennis maybe a keen observer.
