Promoter Eddie Hearn believes his fighter Jaron “Boots” Ennis should aim for a title unification at welterweight before moving up to junior middleweight to face Terence Crawford.
Ennis put in a dominant performance in his first bout with Hearn's Matchroom Boxing in front of a big crowd in Philadelphia. The fighter dominated challenger David Avanesyan, forcing the Armenian cornerback to throw in the towel at the end of the fifth round. With the win, Ennis defended his IBF welterweight title and is looking at a possible unification bout later this year. The only other titleholder in the division is Crawford, but the belt will likely become vacant given that he will move up to 154 pounds to face Israil Madrimov in August. Hearn believes Ennis needs to aim for a unification bout before moving up a weight class to join Crawford to the north, and that his next bout could be as early as a big fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dimitri Bivol in Saudi Arabia in October.
“His number one priority is unifying the department,” Hahn said. “He will eventually take over as 154th, but he doesn't want to step down until the job is done, sir.” [Turki Alalshikh] They asked me, 'Do you think Boots will fight Crawford?' I said, 'Yes,' but that's next year, in October or November. I said to his Excellency, 'If you like, we can do the main event with Beterbiev vs. Bivol in October.' Or we can come back here… Crawford vs. Boots at the Ballpark, I'm really excited for that.'
The Ennis-Avanesyan bout drew an official attendance of 14,199, the largest attendance for a fight in Philadelphia since Marvin Hagler's points victory over Bennie Briscoe in 1978, when 14,930 attended. Fans reportedly were still lining up to buy tickets as the two fighters walked to the ring. The event also exceeded promoter Hearn's expectations, and he believes the experience of a packed arena will prepare him well for matches against some of the sport's biggest names.
“A trainer is only as good as his fighter, but a promoter is only as good as his fighter,” Hearn said. “The reality is, you need quality fighters, you need big TV contracts, you need great fighters. I want to take all the credit for the fight we saw tonight, but the boots are [Ennis] We expected it to happen, but nobody expected it. Honestly, there was a line for him to walk the ring tonight. It was unbelievable. I've done Homecoming before, and it's not easy. I know he thought it was bad timing, but it's hard. You have to stay focused in the match. Tonight was a really good experience for him, because the next time he steps in front of that crowd, it's going to be a bigger test.”
