There were a ton of different ways Jaron Ennis envisioned his championship aspirations playing out.
On one end, the 26-year-old saw the corner of Errol Spence Jr. rushing to the ring apron with a white towel in their hands waving things off. In another scenario, Ennis could vividly imagine the lifeless body of Terence Crawford lying on the canvas. No matter how things played out, Ennis believed that the end result was going to be dramatic. Ultimately, his championship reign began far more mundane than he was expecting.
After spending the last few years hoping and praying that he’ll get Spence in the ring, Ennis, who was the welterweight division’s IBF interim champion, watched from the sidelines as he took on Crawford. Nine one-sided rounds later, Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) was crowned an undisputed champion.
Ennis couldn’t care less, he simply clutched his secondary title and banged on Crawford’s door. Although he was mandated, the IBF sanctioning body came to the conclusion that Crawford, despite holding their title for just a few months, should be stripped. Once it took place, Ennis was elevated to full-time champion.
Becoming a belt holder is something Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) predicted for himself years ago. All along, he believed he was being frozen out by the rest of the division’s top names. As a young up-and-comer, Ennis made a promise. If he was able to grab one title, the rest of those golden trinkets would immediately flock to him.
Now, with names such as Mario Barrios, Eimantas Stanionis, and of course, Crawford – holding at least some version of a welterweight title, Ennis is convinced that those aforementioned fighters might as well kiss those shiny belts goodbye.
“It’s over now,” Ennis told YSM Sports Media during a recent interview. “They might as well pack it up.”