The kid was a nuisance. He could never leave his older brothers, Derek and Farah, alone. Where they went, he went. What they did, he did. Even as a chubby-legged baby in diapers, he was able to throw a left hook at a heavy bag. This chubby-legged baby, Jaron “Boots” Ennis, would grow up to capture the imagination of the boxing world and complete the journey his brothers started.
Boots’ coronation came Saturday night. It just took a little time to arrive. He had more entanglements outside the ring than he did inside it, with managerial issues and promotional deals to sort out. When his time came, the lights dimmed in his hometown, and Ennis filled 14,119 seats in the 21,000-seat Wells Fargo Center for his first IBF welterweight title defense. This attendance is the highest for a Philly indoor fight since Marvin Hagler beat Bennie Briscoe by 10-round decision on August 24, 1978, at the now-defunct Philadelphia Spectrum, which drew 14,930 spectators.
Coming off a year layoff, Ennis held up his end by stopping the very tough David Avanesyan in the fifth round. “I felt a little off,” Ennis admitted. “My timing was a little off. I didn’t think my timing would be off.”
Within the first few seconds, Boots wobbled Avanesyan with a jab. One thing was clear: Ennis (32-0, 29 knockouts) was far larger than Avanesyan. Within the first 90 seconds, Boots plowed Avanesyan (30-5-1, 18 KOs) with a digging right to the body. His length had Avanesyan swinging at air. With about a minute left in the first, an Ennis right uppercut caught Avanesyan below the belt. Avanesyan went down on his knees in obvious discomfort, trying to pull his waistband loose to ease the tension.
Avanesyan seemed intent to use each second of the five minutes allotted to recover. Boots went back to business, with a crisp jab that pierced Avanesyan’s high guard, mixed with rights to the body. In the second, Ennis kept popping the jab and overpowering the smaller Avanesyan. Then it was target practice, pounding Avanesyan with thudding body shots and lefts to the head. Avanesyan was obviously trying to muck it up, and Boots was willing to trade with him.
Against a better fighter, Ennis may have been in some trouble the way Avanesyan was able to get to him. In the third, an Ennis left to the body brought Avanesyan’s arms down. And again, it turned into easy work for Ennis, who chopped at Avanesyan’s head and body with short, blunt punches. Avanesyan could do little to keep Ennis off of him.
In the last 20 seconds of the third, Ennis closed by landing a double right uppercut, followed by a right to the body. Anything Boots wanted to do, he did. Avanesyan had one moment in the early seconds of the fourth when he rattled off a combination on Ennis against the ropes. Then it was Boots again, turning Avanesyan’s body red with punishing uppercuts and left hooks.
There were still moments when Ennis got hit when he should not have. Avanesyan’s face began to redden like his body. In the fifth, Avanesyan tagged Ennis with a right uppercut and then later a left hook that caught Boots squarely on the chin. Avanesyan had him backed against the ropes and was having a great round when Boots landed a counter overhand left that caught Avanesyan on the right temple and sent him down.
Avanesyan showed great courage in staying in. Referee Eric Dali wisely ended it on the advice of the ringside physician after the fifth.
Boots Ennis’ journey from a chubby-legged baby to a world champion is a testament to his perseverance and talent. His coronation on Saturday night was not just a victory for him but a celebration for his hometown and the boxing world. The promised child had finally arrived, and his reign is just beginning.