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ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey – Jaron Ennis expects tests against elite-level welterweights, if one of them ever actually fights him, to bring out the best of the 26-year-old emerging star.
Philadelphia’s Ennis estimated after his most recent dominant win that boxing fans and media still haven’t seen even half of what he is capable of doing in the ring.
“I got a lot more, man,” Ennis stated during his post-fight press conference early Sunday morning following a 10th-round knockout or Roiman Villa. “I keep telling everyone they ain’t seen nothin’ yet. You only seen like 30, 40 percent of me. I feel like I really haven’t had to go in my bag and really, you know, show my true skills.”
The ambitious Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs, 1 NC) still hopes the winner of the upcoming welterweight title unification bout between Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford will fight him. The unbeaten 147-pound champions have rematch clauses in their contracts, however, that the loser must activate within 30 days of their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event July 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
With Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) and Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) likely committed to back-to-back fights, Ennis mentioned Keith Thurman, Yordenis Ugas and Eimantas Stanionis as appealing options for what he hopes will be a third bout of 2023.
Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs, 1 NC), a former WBA/WBC welterweight champ, and Ugas (27-5, 12 KOs), a former WBA welterweight champ, probably will fight each other at some point in the fall. Stanionis (14-0, 9 KOs, 1 NC) seeks an opponent because his ill-fated fight with Vergil Ortiz Jr. (19-0, 19 KOs) has been postponed three times and won’t happen now that the WBA has uninstalled Ortiz as the mandatory challenger for Stanionis’ secondary welterweight title.
“Everybody know I want the main guys,” Ennis said. “I feel like I’mma be able to showcase my ability and my talent against those elite-level guys. I feel like that’ll bring something else outta me, you know?”
The fast, powerful, versatile Ennis completely controlled the action versus Venezuela’s Villa on Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall’s Adrian Phillips Theater. He broke down the brave Villa and eventually viciously knocked him out with a left-right combination in the 10th round.
Villa (26-2, 24 KOs) displayed plenty of toughness and landed several flush punches, but Ennis wasn’t affected by any of his hard-hitting opponent’s shots. Ennis broke Villa’s nose at some point prior to knocking him down and out at 1:27 of the 10th round.
Ennis wanted to try to take out Villa earlier than he did, but his father/trainer, Derek “Bozy” Ennis, encouraged his son to remain patient and pick Villa apart.
“I told my father I wanted to walk to him,” Ennis recalled. “And my dad like, ‘Nah, you gotta stick wit’ it. Get back to boxing.’ And then my team like, ‘Go back to boxing and then walk to him [later in the fight].’ So, it come wit’ the game. You just gotta be patient and not rush things. So, I’m glad I got a great team behind me that told me to go back to what I’m doing, boxing, having fun and let the knockout come.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.