Jaron Ennis needed that special moment. On Saturday night in Atlantic City, he seized it with both fists.
The 27-year-old welterweight from Philadelphia, nicknamed Boots, systematically broke down Eimantas Stanionis with precision and force en route to a sixth-round TKO that unified the IBF and WBA titles and jolted the welterweight division back to life. In a weight class left unmoored after Terence Crawford’s dismantling of Errol Spence Jr nearly two years ago, this was its most significant fight since – and perhaps the first true spark of a new era.
For years, Ennis has been hailed as the future of the welterweight division: an elite talent with rare physical gifts, power in both hands, a high ring IQ and the kind of adaptability that separates great fighters from the rest.