‘It’s time to move to 154’: Hearn confirms Boots’ move up in weight

Jaron Ennis is on his way to 154 as he’s reportedly been physically hampered at welterweight.

Unified welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis won’t realize his dream of going undisputed at welterweight as his Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn tells Fight Hype he’ll instead continue his career in the 154 pound division.

Boots had extreme difficulty getting his hands on the other titleholders at welterweight and has opted to move up rather than face Teofimo Lopez. As Hearn explains it, Ennis and his team reviewed his recent performances along with some physical data to determine that he’s been hindering himself by continuing to make the 147 lb welterweight limit.

“Boots is moving up,” Hearn said of a rejected fight against Teofimo. “Unfortunately after the Stanionis fight he had his team around him and the doctors, the tests, and what they’re basically saying is Boots is under-performing to his capabilities. You saw him on fight week, like it doesn’t take a genius to see it’s hard work [for him to make the weight], and the amazing thing is he did that to Stanionis at 50% of his physical capabilities.

“And what his team is saying is sooner or later — I’m not saying you’re going to get a Keyshawn moment — but you could either under-perform in the ring, have a nightmare weight cut, and it’s just going to catch up with you. I loved the Teo fight, and so did Boots, but it was like ‘can I perform to the best of my abilities at 147?’ And the answer is ‘I can probably perform good enough to win, but not to the best of my abilities.’

“So when you see Boots at 154 you will see what I’m talking about. So it’s very likely that those belts will be vacated. We’re going to meet this week and make a final decision but, yeah, it’s time to move to ‘54 and he’s been unified at ‘47, now it’s time to become a two-division world champion.”