Armed with 17 career knockouts in three rounds or less, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis is no stranger to quick nights at the office.
This was not at all what he had in mind, however, for how things turned out in his latest ring appearance.
The red-hot welterweight contender from Philadelphia saw a 16-fight knockout streak end after settling for a one-round No-Decision versus Chris van Heerden. A clash of heads left South Africa’s van Heerden (28-2-1, 12KOs; 1ND) with a deep gash atop his forehead, forcing a stoppage at 2:39 of the opening round in their Showtime-televised bout earlier this month from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
“It’s boxing and you gotta live with it,” Ennis (26-0, 24KOs; 1ND) surmised to BoxingScene.com. “Right now, I’m just disappointed. You can see from the first round, he was supposed to be my toughest fight and I was handling him easily. I feel like they still sleeping on me.
“But just bring on them names and I’m ready.”
Ennis was aiming for his third win of a pandemic-stricken 2020, including his biggest victory to date in a 6th round stoppage of Juan Carlos Abreu in this very venue this past September. Van Heerden was considered a step up in class, along with providing Ennis with a southpaw look ahead of future desired title challenges versus a trio of lefties in Manny Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39KOs), Errol Spence (27-0, 21KOs) and Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford (37-0, 28KOs).
Despite the anti-climactic ending, Ennis would prefer to still build on the momentum rather than level off his career for the sake of picking up a quick win on the next open fight date.
“I’m ready for anybody in the Top 5. I don’t care,” insists the 23-year old Ennis. “I’m hungry. It’s my time now. Onto 2021, I’m taking over and I will be world champion. I’m ready to go to the next level. Let’s go.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox