American IBF welterweight champion Jaron Ennis has made an important step in his career by signing with a renowned promotional outfit in Matchroom which will likely give him plenty of fights to keep him active in the welterweight division. However, with the rest of the 147 lbs titles set to be vacated by Terence Crawford if he fights at super welterweight, the relinquishment of those belts might fall into the hands of PBC fighters; thus lessening the chance of Ennis unifying or becoming undisputed in the division.
The circumstances surrounding Jaron Ennis (31-0, 28 KO’s) and his former promoter Now Boxing only recently made Ennis a free agent, but it now appears Matchroom was the quickest to react as they signed the American welterweight champion in a move that can be considered a coup of sorts. Ennis has reportedly signed a multi-fight deal with the British promotion.
With Matchroom having managed to corral established American fighters such as Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KO’s) and Alycia Baumgardner (15-1, 7 KO’s), the British-based promotional outfit continues to attempt to establish itself in the North American market through Ennis’ signing.
However, there are some concerns for Ennis moving forward in regards to the welterweight division where he currently holds the IBF title. With unified welterweight champion Terence Crawford (40-0, 31 KO’s)―who holds the rest of the three main world belts―set to relinquish his welterweight titles if he fights at 154 lbs, there will be opportunities for Ennis to chase the rest of the available 147 lbs titles.
Unfortunately, PBC has a finger in the pie when it comes to the welterweight division, which would see them clash with Ennis if he attempted on making his mark in that weight class. The American-based promotion of PBC is notorious for not allowing their fighters to fight on other platforms, with the most recent example of former unified welterweight champion and PBC fighter Errol Spence Jr (28-1, 22 KO’s) suddenly becoming a prospective opponent for WBC and WBO 154 lbs champion Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KO’s)―who is also signed to PBC.
With PBC well-vested in boxing politics, there are plenty of barriers that could prevent Ennis from collecting the rest of the welterweight titles if they fall into the hands of PBC fighters. One indicator of this is the status of PBC fighter Mario Barrios (28-2, 18 KO’s) being positioned as the WBC interim champion when he fought another PBC fighter, Yordenis Ugas (27-6, 12 KO’s), last year to win the title. If Barrios becomes the WBC welterweight champion―whether by promotion or other means―as is expected to happen if Crawford vacates his 147-pound titles, the possibility of PBC allowing Barrios to fight Ennis would be slim to none, as Ennis is now signed to one of their staunchest rivals in Matchroom.
The WBA also has several fighters that PBC would use to avoid a fight with Jaron Ennis. Particularly, the grossly inactive Lithuanian Eimantas Stanionis (14-0, 9 KO’s) is also associated with PBC and is currently regarded as the WBA ‘regular’ world champion of the division―rated below only WBA ‘super’ champion Terence Crawford. Like with Barrios, regardless of whether Stanionis gets promoted outright or has to win a fight against a top contender to become a legit world champion, Stanionis’ signing to PBC complicates matters heavily if Ennis were to seek a unification fight with him.
The only prospective way for Jaron Ennis to gain another world title would be through the WBO, but he is heavily dependent on whether Terence Crawford actually fights at 154 lbs. If Crawford doe fight at 154 lbs for the WBO title there―whether it’s vacant or not, Crawford’s 147 lbs title will be relinquished; allowing Ennis to fight for either the vacant title, or against the fighter that will end up becoming the WBO champion.
Giovani Santillan (32-0, 17 KO’s), a Golden Boy Promotions signee, is currently the #1-ranked contender on the WBO’s welterweight rankings, making it more likely that Jaron Ennis would meet Santillan in the ring given both Matchroom and Golden Boy are signed to the same broadcasting network of DAZN, and have further already cooperated together several times. However, this scenario is dependent on Santillan actually becoming the WBO champion, which again depends on what Crawford does.
Lastly, there is a slight chance of Jaron Ennis actually facing Terence Crawford to stage an undisputed bout in the welterweight division, and with Crawford being a free agent there does lurk an opportunity for the fight to take place now that Ennis has settled with a promotion that can put up money for the fight.
However, Crawford has already indicated he had no interest to fight Ennis, and seems to be geared to make his debut at super welterweight/junior middleweight.
Boxing politics aside, Jaron Ennis can still look forward towards having more fights now that he has signed to an established promotional outfit. Even at this current stage of the division, there are several fighters that Ennis could face to expand his name, including British welterweight contender Conor Benn (23-0, 14 KO’s) who called out Ennis last year.
Then there’s the possibility of 140 lbs champions such as Devin Haney and Subriel Matias (20-1, 20 KO’s)―both of whom are associated with Matchroom or DAZN―moving up to welterweight in the near future, providing new avenues for Jaron Ennis to become at least a unified champion if either of those fighters manage to get a title at 147 lbs.
