Jaron Ennis, the 27-year-old IBF Welterweight World Champion from Philadelphia, is looking for big fights. He's thinking about moving up to super-welterweight if he can't get unification bouts at his current weight.
Ennis got his world title when Terence Crawford moved up a division. He defended it successfully against David Avanesyan and has been calling for fights with other welterweight champions since then.
But things haven't been easy. He had to face Karen Chukhadzhian again, a fighter he'd already beaten for the Interim title. This mandatory defense wasn't what Ennis wanted.
Bozy Ennis, Jaron's father and trainer, talked to Fight Hub TV about their plans:
"That's what we want to do after we collect the belts, if we get a chance to collect – cause you know, like you said, it's hard for him to get fights. Eventually we're moving up to 154. And after that we're gonna move up to 160, and maybe 168. Yeah, we're on a quest."
He added:
"All the ones that got the titles, that's who I want. [If] we can't get none of them then we're probably gonna move on up."
At welterweight, the other champions are Brian Norman Jr (WBO), Mario Barrios (WBC), and Eimantas Stanionis (WBA). Eddie Hearn, Ennis' promoter, has tried to set up fights with these champions but hasn't had any luck. He's even had a public back-and-forth with Brian Norman Jr.
If Ennis does move up to super-welterweight, he might find himself in an interesting situation. Terence Crawford just won the WBA belt at 154 pounds by beating Israil Madrimov. Crawford wasn't interested in fighting Ennis before, but if his hoped-for fight with Canelo Alvarez doesn't happen, he might change his mind.
Ennis and his team are thinking big. They're not just looking at super-welterweight, but also considering moves to middleweight (160 lbs) and even super-middleweight (168 lbs) in the future. For now, though, they're focused on getting those big fights at welterweight or making the jump to 154 lbs if they have to.
