Negotiations have begun for a fight between IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (33-0, 39 KOs) and Teofimo Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) for a dual network and promotion fight on DAZN & ESPN.
Deal In The Works
Teofimo’s promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, told Boxingscene’s Lance Pugmire that he wants to make the fight for early 2025, possibly March 1st. Arum would work with Ennis’ promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom, to complete this deal.
Hopefully, Boots is informed about what’s going on, as he recently complained that he was kept out of the “loop” when a fight against WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. was offered to him for February 22nd on His Excellency Turki Alalshikh’s Riyadh Season card.
According to Hearn, Ennis wanted to stay at 147 to unify the division rather than go up to 154 for a one-off against Vergil Jr. Boots won’t have to worry about moving up if he agrees to fight Teofimo. He would be coming up to 147 to challenge Ennis for his IBF belt.
So, there are no issues this time unless Boots chooses not to take the fight because he focuses on capturing all the belts.
It’s a courageous move on Teofimo’s part to go up to 147 and immediately fight for a world title against Boots Ennis, who is considered to be the best in the division.
That shows a lot of bravery on Lopez’s part. Ennis should try to emulate this behavior because he looked bad, choosing not to move up for one fight against WBC interim 154-lb champion Vergil Jr. for the February 22nd card.
There’s no way to spin it to where Boots looks good, and his excuse about not being in the loop isn’t gaining any traction with fans. If he’s disengaged from what’s happening with his career, what does that say about him?
Welterweight Debut
Teofimo is in a good position where he won’t have to deal with much of a backlash if he gets beaten by Ennis because he’s moving up in weight to face the #1 guy in the division. No one can blame him if he loses to Boots. At least he can say he tried, which Ennis didn’t do when he was offered to fight Vergil Jr. at 154.
Fans will still not forge Ennis for his failure to take the Ortiz fight. Beating Lopez won’t be enough for fans to forget what they view as a sign of cowardice from Boots. For him to make fans forget, he’s going to have to move up in weight to 154 and knock off one of the top dogs, like Bakhram Murtazaliev or Terence Crawford.
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