Hearn Reveals Early August Fight For Boots Ennis Vs. Teofimo Lopez In Saudi Arabia

Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis’ promoter Eddie Hearn revealed today that he’s in negotiations for a fight between Ennis and Teofimo Lopez for a clash in August in Saudi Arabia. Hearn says it’s a little earlier than IBF and WBO welterweight champion Boots Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) planned to return to the ring. Ennis, 27, was expecting to fight next in September or October.

“We’re in negotiations for Jaron to fight Teofimo, and you heard His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh]. He said it there,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to Fighthype about talks starting between Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Teofimo Lopez for a fight. “This is the last 48 hours. So, Jaron has been chilling out.”

Undisputed Quest on Hold?

If Ennis takes this fight, it will delay him in his pursuit of capturing all the belts at 147. However, with Hearn likely to have problems negotiating a deal with WBO champion Brian Norman Jr. without investing in Ennis,’ it won’t matter that this detour will lengthen the time required to round up the titles.

“There is a date in August that we could be looking at in Saudi Arabia, but we weren’t really expecting to fight in August,” said Hearn. “We were expecting to fight in September or October. We have a mandatory challenger in Shakhram Giyasov, who stepped aside for the Stanionis fight. But I believe there’s a conversation to be had there [for another step aside].”

It looks like Boots’ WBA mandatory Giyasov is going to get the run around again, with him being ducked for a second time. I’m just wondering if Ennis will continue to swerve this dangerous fighter until he’s achieved his goal of becoming the undisputed champion at 147. That would be pathetic if Jaron circumvents his mandatory commitments until he’s accomplished his dream of collecting all four belts.

It tarnishes the accomplishment when a fighter becomes undisputed by avoiding facing their tough mandatory challengers. How do you give them credit, knowing they bypassed them repeatedly? Should there be an asterisk next to Boots Ennis’ in the record books for capturing the undisputed title at 147? Does Ennis need help that bad for him to become undisputed?

If one or two months earlier is too soon for Ennis to return to the ring, it doesn’t say much about his toughness. If he wants to be compared with the greats, he must be willing to fight earlier than expected when big fights are offered.

Boots’ Huge Size Advantage

“I’ve got a call with Jaron and Bozy in about an hour to see if that’s what we want to do. I will say there is a conversation for 47/54. It is inevitable the move [ to junior middleweight], but I feel like the Teofimo fight is a great fight. I feel that it’s a great option for him. I honestly think that he’s [Boots Ennis] too big and too good. I rate Teofimo,” said Hearn.

It’s a good payday for Ennis fighting Lopez, and he’d have a huge size advantage against him. The fight would basically boil down to a junior middleweight fighting a light welterweight. Boots should be fighting at 154 now rather than draining down to compete against smaller prey in the barren, talent-less 147-lb division.

Teofimo is small even for the 140-lb division, and he will likely be giving away 20+ lbs against Ennis on fight night. That’s great for Ennis, but not ideal for fans who purchase the event thinking they will see a competitive fight. We’re talking about a fighter in Lopez, who lost to George Kambosos, who should have defeats on his record from his fights against Sandor Martin and Jamaine Ortiz.

“When we did the weigh-in here, Teofimo stepped in the scales, about six or eight hours into hydrating, and he was about 146 pounds. Barboza was about 157. I don’t think he’s a big 140, Teo. Wait until you see Boots on the night, hydrated, fit, healthy, and he’s a hell of a fighter. It’s a great fight for boxing, but I don’t see anybody beating Boots Ennis at 147, 154 or 160,” said Hearn, sounding like he’s going overboard with his glazing.

Boots: Acknowledging His Fear?

If Ennis was as good as Hearn thinks, why did he turn down a career-high payday of a rumored $8 million smackers to fight WBC interim 154-lb champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. on the February 22nd card in Riyadh in favor of a smaller payday that did very little for his career against Eimantas Stanionis? Fans saw that as a classic duck move.

There’s nothing wrong with Ennis lacking self-confidence after what he went through in his clash last September against Karen Chukhadzhian in Philadelphia. But Hearn needs to admit that Jaron showed with that move that he doesn’t believe in himself enough to fight at 154, and he definitely won’t be fighting at 160. Hearn needs to put down the pipe and walk slowly away.