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The mandatory contenders in waiting for Errol Spence Jr. are eager to advance to the front of the line.
Both the WBA and IBF have been met with petitions filed by the teams of Eimantas Stanionis and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, respectively, to enforce a due welterweight title shot. The moves came in the aftermath of failed talks for an undisputed champion between Spence as the WBC/WBA/IBF titlist and WBO beltholder Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford.
The months-long negotiation process created a logjam at the contender level, all on Spence’s side as he has at least two outstanding mandatory title defenses to honor. Crawford (38-0, 29KOs) left a void in his rival’s schedule after breaking off talks to instead defend his title against David Avanesyan on December 10 in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
News of the fallout was met with immediate action talking by Stanionis and Ennis.
“I have the first right to fight with Spence,” Stanionis pointed out through his verified social media channels. “If he does not fight or forfeit the WBA Super Champion title, there will be no WBA Super Duper Champion and only the one I have will remain.”
Stanionis (14-0, 9KOs; 1ND) currently holds the WBA ‘World’ (Regular) title, a secondary version of the WBA ‘Super’ title held by Spence. The unbeaten welterweight—a 2016 Olympian for Lithuania—was willing to once again step aside, as he did earlier this year in forfeiting a straightaway shot at then-WBA ‘Super’ champ Yordenis Ugas to instead allow a three-belt unification bout to take place.
Spence defeated Ugas by tenth-round injury stoppage atop an April 16 Showtime Pay-Per-View telecast from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, near Spence’s hometown of Desoto, Texas. Stanionis appeared on the undercard as a concession to bypassing his mandatory shot at Ugas, cashing in with a win over Radzhab Butaev to win the secondary WBA title. He was due to appear on the Spence-Crawford undercard had they managed to come to terms but is back to waiting on his next assignment. With that comes the proactive step of having the WBA order a title consolidation bout, as he was originally due the title shot absent an undisputed fight between Spence and Crawford.
Spence has not made a mandatory defense of any title since his December 2020 points win over Danny Garcia which satisfied his WBC commitment. He inherited Stanionis as the WBA mandatory, while his last fight against the IBF’s number-one contender came more than four years ago in a June 2018 first-round knockout of Carlos Ocampo.
A new top IBF contender was sought after Kudratillo Abdukakhorov dropped a ten-round decision to Cody Crowley in their battle of unbeaten welterweights last December 11 at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Ennis (29-0, 27KOs) filled that void following a second-round knockout of Custio Clayton in their May 14 IBF title eliminator also at Dignity Health Sports Park. The unbeaten welterweight from Philadelphia has announced through his social media channels that he is due to return to the ring in December. An opponent was not named for his next fight, though the timeframe could change in light of his approaching the IBF to enforce a title fight with Spence.
“Look how long it’s been, Spence ain’t did none of them mandatories,” Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis, Jaron’s father, manager and head trainer told YSM Sports Media. “We sent a petition to [the IBF] already.”
Also lurking in the background is former unified welterweight titlist Keith Thurman (30-1, 22KOs; 2ND), who is currently the number-one contender with the WBC.
Stanionis has paperwork that says he is owed a shot at the main title, while the IBF would come before the WBC in the rotation process that comes with mandatories for unified titlists.
Regardless of who lands the shot first, there is the possibility of at least one title becoming vacant by the time Spence next enters the ring. The 32-year-old southpaw revealed that his planned fight with Crawford was likely going to be his last at welterweight, which lessens the motivation of satisfying mandatory title defenses to avoid being stripped.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox