Trainer Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis went on a rant in an interview, criticizing the 147-lb champions for not agreeing to fight his son, IBF welterweight champ Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, in a unification match. Bozy wants Jaron to quickly capture the three titles he needs to become an undisputed champion at 147 before moving to 154.
The champions don’t want to accept the money that Ennis’ promoter is offering them for a dangerous fight they could lose. Bozy isn’t looking at the main cause for why the fights aren’t being made. It’s Ennis’ promoter.
So, instead of fighting a unification, Boots will defend against his IBF mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian in a rematch on November 9th at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
“I think he is tougher than Karen. He was dancing around,” said Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis to Fight Hub TV when asked if WBC super flyweight champion Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez is tougher than Karen Chukhadzhian.
Ennis did a poor job of cutting off the ring against Chukhadzhain last year and looked terrible throughout the contest. Boots couldn’t cut off the ring and was swinging wildly and missing with his shots because he was loading up.
“We had to take it because it was a mandatory. That’s the only thing I think about it. We really didn’t want the fight, but we had to take it because it was the mandatory. I don’t like it, but we had to do it, but it’s going to be different this time,” said Bozy about how Boots Ennis was forced to take the fight with Karen Chukhadzhian because the IBF ordered it.
Boots could have vacated his IBF title and moved up to 154 rather than fight Chukhadzhian. His promoter could have gotten one of the other champions to fight him if he’d offered them enough money.
“We don’t look for knockouts. If it presents itself, we’re going to take it, but that’s what we go in there to do because people love to see a knockout, but we’re not going to look for it. If it presents itself, we’re going to take it,” said Bozy about Boots Ennis coming to knockout Chukhadzhian on November 9th.
“Wake up, and let’s fight. Stop bull-crapping around. You act like you want to fight, and then you don’t want to fight,” said Bozy about his message to the welterweight division. “That’s my message to all the 147s that got the belts. I don’t know if it’s your people behind you or just you that pick who you want to fight.”
It’s not the other champions’ fault that the offers being made to them by Boots Ennis’ promoter, Eddie Hearn, isn’t enough to get them to agree. They’re not going to agree to fight Ennis for less than what they feel the fight deserves. After all, the three champions can make more money in the long run by holding onto their titles rather than accepting what Hearn is offering.
“We thought he was coming to fight. He came to dance,” said Bozy. “I think Canelo earned his way. He put his time in. That’s what I think. He can choose and pick who he wants to pick. They can talk about it all they want. He made all that money. So, he can do what he wants to do.
“That’s what we want to do after we collect the belts. After we get a chance to collect them, because it’s hard for him to get fights,” said Bozy when asked if Ennis might want to move up to 154 because the 147-lb division is quiet now, and he’s having a hard time getting the other champions to fight him.”
At some point, Bozy is going to need to see the writing on the wall and understand that it’s going to take too many years of his son Boot’s career for him to collect all the belts at welterweight. What Bozy doesn’t need is for Boots to be 35 years old and still trying to unify the welterweight division.
“Eventually, we’re going to move up to 154, and after that, we’re moving to 160 and maybe 168. We’re on a quest. The ones that got the title. Those are the ones I want,” said Bozy when asked who he wants Boots Ennis to fight after Chukhadzhian on November 9th. “If we can’t get any of them, we’re probably going to move up.”
Ennis should move up now because it’s obvious that his promoter isn’t going to invest the money needed in his career to get the other three champions to agree to fight him. Some would argue that if this were the valuable gem of the Matchroom stable, Anthony Joshua, promoter Eddie Hearn, would cough up the two or three million to get the other champions to fight him at warp speed. It would have been done already. But since this is only Boots Ennis, Hearn is being tight-fisted about investing in his career by overpaying to get the other champions to fight him.
Boots Ennis will need to improve his game if he’s going to have success at 154, 160, and 168 because he took a lot of punishment against David Avanesyan and Roiman Villa at 147.
It doesn’t sound feasible that Ennis will be able to make the jump to 154 to capture titles, especially if he uses up the best years of his career trying to become the undisputed champion at welterweight. He’s about to turn 28, and he has no unification fights in sight.
If Ennis’ promoter Eddie Hearn refuses to meet the asking price of the other champions, he needs to understand that he’ll never get the unfication fights he needs unless His Excellency Turki Alalshikh wants to help out.
I don’t know why he would, but there’s always a possibility. That might be what the other welterweight champions are waiting for. They want the big money Turki offered them to fight Boots, which is completely understandable on their part. Why would they agree to the $1.7 million that Hearn is offering to them when they can get many more millions from Turki? Hearn’s offer is chicken feed compared to what Turki could potentially give them to fight Ennis and give up their titles.
“It was a beautiful fight. I had Bivol winning,” said Bozy when asked if he watched last Saturday’s light heavyweight championship fight between champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. “[Beterbiev] came on in the end because Bivol slowed down, but I had him winning.
“I think they should rematch, and I think it’s going to be a different situation this time because it seemed like he got winded in the last two rounds,” said Bozy about Bivol.
Bozy doesn’t say how he sees the rematch ending differently between undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. It’s going to be difficult for Bivol to improve on the amount of moving he did last Saturday night without giving away rounds for lack of offense. He’ll get tired from all the moving he’s doing and will get stopped by Beterbiev. It’s interesting that Bozy had issues with Chukhadzhian’s constant movement but was fine with Bivol doing the same.
“That’s another good fight,” said Bozy about the December 21st rematch between former WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and unified three-belt champion Oleksandr Usyk. “Usyk is a good boxer. He moves, and then you’ve got Fury. He’s a good boxer. If he’s in good condition, I think it’ll be a different situation. I think Fury might end up winning.
“If he do win, it’ll be 1-1. So, they got to break the tie,” said Bozy.
Assuming Fury wins the rematch against WBA, WBC, and WBO heavyweight champion Usyk on December 21st, the trilogy will likely need to wait until Tyson fights Anthony Joshua once or twice. His Excellency Turki Alalshikh wants to see Fury vs. Joshua, and it’s believed they’ll fight twice before they move on to other fights or retirement.
