Jaron Ennis proved himself the heir to Terence Crawford's title when he defeated David Avanesyan in his hometown of Philadelphia.

In recent years, Jaron Ennis has been hailed by those who know his incredible talent as the heir apparent to Terence Crawford's welterweight championship, and tonight he proved exactly why as he unleashed that talent for the first time in his hometown of Philadelphia.

Ennis, known in boxing circles as “Boots”, made the first successful defence of his IBF title by out-foxing Russian veteran David Avanesyan in quick succession, leaving the challenger with a broken jaw and in no doubt.

Outside the ring, Boots became the official champion after undisputed champion Crawford vacated one of his four belts and temporarily moved up to 154 pounds, but here he more than validated his new status as king of the division.

Ennis took his opponent down early on, but it was with a body shot that was legitimately deemed a low blow. Avanesyan was entitled to up to a five-minute recovery break if necessary, and only needed a couple of minutes before the fight resumed.

The 35-year-old started well in the young lion's den, keeping Ennis on his toes in the first two rounds.

But as the game progressed, it quickly became clear they were no match for Philadelphia's 27-year-old sensation, who drew a frenzy of 14,119 fans to the Wells Fargo Center, home to the city's NBA and NHL teams.

It took Avanesyan a few rounds to finally get going, initially finding success by dragging the champion to close quarters, but it wasn't long before the clicking of boots and heels began to work his magic.

After a hard-fought second round, he landed some hard punches at the start of the third, but quickly fought back with a ferocious combination that left his opponent breathless.

Ennis was again slightly shaken in the fifth round, this time by two well-timed uppercuts from Avanesyan, but this moment of weakness seemed to spur him on to the brutal attack that followed.

With his opponent continuing to apply pressure in an attempt to disrupt the bout, Booth nearly sealed the victory with a powerful left hook that sent Avanesyan to the canvas.

For the rest of the round, and ultimately the entire fight, Avanesyan was simply weathering the storm. But what a storm it was when Ennis landed chop blows to the head and body.

After taking heavy blows at the end of the fifth round, the ringside doctor advised the referee that Avanesyan had had enough, and Avanesyan appeared to be in pain with a broken jaw after the vicious attack.

The match was stopped to confirm the local hero had retained his title, much to the delight of his adoring crowd.

And to further fuel the excitement at the Wells Fargo Center, Ennis wasted no time calling out Crawford.

“Obviously, what I want is a big name,” he said when asked about signing a big name in the welterweight division. “I could get Terence Crawford or any other big name.”

There aren't many big names Ennis can follow as he looks to forge his own illustrious career as Crawford, who dominated the 146-pound division before moving up to super welterweight.

But this simple evening at the office demonstrated once again that if anyone could fill those big shoes, it was the man known as Boots.