An Ennis vs. Stanionis welterweight rematch is slated for April

Jaron 'Boots' Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis are close to a unification fight for two IBF and WBO welterweight belts in April.

Ennis-Stanionis in April?

IBF champion Boots Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) will face the first high quality opponent of his career if he does, and it will be interesting for fans to see how he responds to the power and pressure from WBA 147-lb champion Stanionis (15-0, 9 KOs).

If the fight goes ahead, it will be Matchroom shown on DAZN. Whether it will be put on PPV is questionable because Stanionis is not well known. Boots has yet to reach that level due to his poor opposition throughout his nine-year pro career.

Ennis, 27, received a lot of criticism for his decision not to accept the fight against interim WBC junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. on the Feb. 22 Turki Al-Sheikh card on DAZN PPV in Riyadh. Boots was rumored to have been offered a career-high salary 8 million dollars, which is a crazy amount for him to turn down.

But he wants to unify the welterweight division to collect all four belts before moving up, and vows to finish what he started come hell or high water. Hopefully, Jaron won't live to regret it later.

Can the boots handle Stanionis?

“Are we finally going to get that welterweight unification match he's been waiting for?” Bernardo Osuna told Box conditiontalking about Jaron 'Boots' Ennis wanting a unification fight against WBA champion Eimantas Stanionis or one of the other champions.

“They're certainly getting close and it's a really tough test for the Boots. He's looking at a fight against Eimantas Stanionis, who I think is one of the most underrated fighters in all of boxing,” said Mike Coppinger. “He lost all of 2023 after several fights against Vergil Ortiz were canceled and I was told they were closing in on a deal to fight in April. No deal yet though.

“It's a big step forward for Boots, who haven't fought anyone strong yet. Stanionis applies pressure; he can hit and I hope the fight is over. It will be a Matchroom show on DAZN,” Coppinger said.

It's a major step forward for Ennis, who he's been facing for the past nine years, and it's not certain that he'll win this fight. Stanionis is a good power fighter and Boots takes a lot of hits in his fights. He depends on his offense being his defense, and those types of fighters don't do well in the long run.

Eventually they run into someone with too much power and get knocked out. What was surprising was how Ennis was outclassed by Karen Chukhadzhian in his last fight on November 9, and he's not known as a big puncher.

Finally a boost

“It's about time Boots got in the ring with somebody,” said Tim Bradley. “I can tell you this. He had many opportunities to get in the ring with many guys, including Virgil Ortiz, but chose not to. This was clearly his plan from the beginning. He wants to unify titles against Stanionis.”

Bradley is right. It's about time Ennis finally fought someone because he sure looked weak turning down a fight against Vergil Jr on February 22nd.

“I just finished studying film four days ago. It will be an exciting fight,” Bradley said. “Stanionis is a fighter who comes forward, very aggressive. He hits in heaps. He can hit hard with either hand, but so can Boots. But the difference is that Stanionis, I don't think he understands trigonometry.

“He doesn't understand angles. He doesn't understand how to put himself in a different position because all he knows is gas and no brake,” Bradley said of Stanionis' shortcomings.