“I’m excited to get all the belts and become undisputed,” says Jaron “Boots” Ennis on the eve of his IBF welterweight title defense against David Avanesyan. “July 13th is going to be fireworks,” Ennis continues, “don’t miss it.” It’s been a while since Ennis was seen in the ring, over a year ago. Suffice it to say, Ennis has made it clear he doesn’t want to take as much time off anymore. “The key is staying lively,” he says. “This time off won’t affect me at all. I just want to get back in the ring.”
Ennis will face Avanesyan in front of his hometown crowd in Philadelphia and he doesn’t intend to disappoint. “We haven’t had a substantial fight here in I don’t know how long, and this is what the city needs. This homecoming is everything. It’s going to be a blessing to get out in front of my friends and family and finally shine. Knowing that I have my neighborhood and my city behind me, it’s a blessing and I’m going to keep playing for these guys.”
Despite holding only one of the four major world titles at welterweight, Ennis is convinced he is the best in his weight class. “What makes me the best in this division?” asks Ennis. “I can do anything, anything you want, I have it.” As for Avanesyan: “It’s a better fight than Cody Crowley, but I’ll smash him, I’ll smash him, I’ll knock him out!” Avanesyan, of course, has other plans. “A lot of people say, ‘You’re crazy,’ but this is my life,” the outsider says. “I only know boxing – so you call me and say, ‘You’re fighting,’ and I start training. I think it’s a 50-50 fight. He’s younger, he’s robust, it’s a very good fight.”
Avanesyan may think Saturday’s fight will be a 50-50, but most analysts would probably disagree. Ennis is generally seen as a fighter who is one substantial fight away from real glory. Still, strange things have happened in boxing, so you never know. Indeed, that’s one of the main reasons fans watch. And if the 27-year-old Ennis continues to find success in his craft, more fans will likely see what’s behind the excitement. After all, there’s a good reason for this Philadelphia native to stay busy.
Costa Rica’s David Jimenez will return home for his next fight.
Jimenez, ranked No. 9 by The Ring in the junior bantamweight division, will put his WBA interim belt (not recognized by The Ring) on display against Keyvin Lara at the Polideportivo de Cartago in Cartago, Costa Rica on Saturday, December 7.
“I’m incredibly excited to fight in my home country and hometown of Cartago,” Jimenez (16-1, 11 knockouts) told The Ring through his manager/promoter Ernesto Sandoval. “I have responsibility for my country, Costa Rica, but it doesn’t distract me. On the contrary, it motivates me to work even harder.
“I will be participating in a training camp in Las Vegas where I expect to continue to improve my level and will be ready for that commitment.”
“Medallita” hopes this will lead to something even bigger in the future.
“For now, I’m focused on this fight, but my eyes are on the current (IBF/WBA) world champion (Fernando Martinez) in my division,” he said. I hope he will have the courage to give me a chance to face him.
Junior middleweight Eduardo Sanchez (9-1-2, 5 KO) and bantamweight Juliana Rodriguez (8-0, 5 KO) will also enter the ring at the Fight Club Promotions gala.
Jimenez competed internationally for Costa Rica as an amateur before turning professional in early 2019. The 32-year-old was able to move relatively quickly. However, it was his victory over Ricardo Sandoval (MD 12) in the WBA title eliminator, in which he scored a knockout in the 11th round, that made the difference and gained recognition.
He lost to Artem Dalakian (UD 12) for the WBA 112-pound title, but has since returned to winning ways with four wins, most notably against the usually robust Rosendo Hugo Guarneros (RTD 7), and most recently moved up to 115 pounds and defeated John Ramirez (UD 12) for the WBA interim title.
Lara (32-6-1, 12 KO) turned professional in 2013. Although the Nicaraguan lost his debut and drew in his second fight, he won 18 in a row to earn himself a chance to fight then-WBA 112-pound belt holder Kazuta Ioka. Although he gave a good impression of himself, he was stopped in the 11th round.
After the rebounds, Lara went to South Africa, where she lost to Yanga Sigqibo (UD 10). The 30-year-old stopped a close fight with Keiver Fernandez (SD 9) and also lost to Norbelto Jimenez (UD 10) and Salvador Juarez (SD 8), although he came back with a victory.
According to his promoter Ben Shalom, Martin Bakole will be rewarded for the sensational summer knockout of Jared Anderson with a fight on the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury II card.
“Hopefully we’ll have a huge fight to announce in December,” Boxxer’s Shalom told BoxingScene. “Hopefully on the undercard of the rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, which will take place on December 21 in Saudi Arabia.
When asked if his opponent would be Zhilei Zhang, who stopped Deontay Wilder in June, Shalom did not reveal further details.
“I don’t want to say too much,” he said. “We’ll see what happens. It was a shock for Martin. We had to be very patient. For me, he’s the man I’m most afraid of in the division. He’s a guy no one wants to fight.
“The season in Riyad made impossible fights possible. Thank God the Anderson fight happened. It was a clear win on a huge platform. We knew what was coming, but that evening he announced himself to the world. I believe he can beat anyone in the league.”
Congo’s Bakole (21-1, 16 KO), 31, fought for the first time in the United States in August and stopped Anderson in a one-sided demolition, knocking down the then-undefeated American heavyweight prospect three times en route to a fight victory by technical knockout in the fifth round.
Dmitry Bivol says he is not sure if he will leave the lightweight heavyweight division if he achieves his goal of defeating unified three-belt champion Artur Beterbiev and becoming undisputed champion this Saturday night in Riyad.
The two obvious choices for Bivol are to stay at lightweight heavyweight and face WBC interim champion David Benavidez or “regular” WBA champion David Morrell. These would be great fights for the fans and would make Bivol good money. They both have power and there is a good chance that Bivol can be knocked out by either of them.
If Bivol (23-0, 12 KO) decides not to stay at 175 to defend his four belts in a rematch with Canelo Alvarez, he could move up to cruiserweight to challenge IBF champion Jai Opetai for the belt. His Excellency Turki Alalshikh may be interested in a fight between the two.
We don’t know how good Bivol is because he hasn’t fought any killers at 175 pounds and he looks outmatched against bigger fighters. Will he respond well to Beterbiev’s repeated blows, or will he crumble and fall apart?
Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KO) could dash Bivol’s big-fight hopes by knocking him out on Saturday night. This would change the dynamics of some possible fights as Canelo has no interest in fighting Beterbiev and it’s understandable why.
Beterbiev would be a bigger problem for Opetai because the Australian doesn’t react well to difficult shots and he has no inside game to speak of. Turki likes Opetaia and a fight with Beterbiev where he could potentially get knocked out wouldn’t be good for his career. This would reduce Opetai’s popularity, perhaps permanently.
“For me, the stripes are very crucial, first of all because I didn’t have them. Maybe when I get these belts, maybe I will change my mind,” Bivol said in a conversation with journalists Stomping areason how he sees world titles as the most crucial thing to him in his boxing career. “Ever since I came into boxing, I wanted to have all the collections of all the belts.”
If Bivol wins, it does not mean that there are no goals for him, because a rematch with Beterbiev cannot be ruled out. This will be of interest to many fans. Moreover, there are challengers like David Benavidez, David Morrell, Joshua Buatsi and Anthony Yarde who would like to earn a title shot against him.
“I didn’t think too much about what would happen after this fight,” Bivol said when asked if he could move to another division if he beat Artur Beterbiev to become the undisputed 175-pound champion.
“I need to listen to my body to decide what I want to do next after this fight, and then I can tell you.”
“I feel amazing because I’m going to fight for all the belts, and this opportunity is not available to every fighter. Even good fighters couldn’t be that lucky, but I got this fight,” said Dmitry Bivol Boxing King’s Media that he was given a chance to fight for the undisputed lightweight heavyweight title against Artur Beterbiev.
“I want to make history with my coach,” Bivol said.
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