Five months after a one-round blowout of Uisma Lima, former Ring and unified welterweight champion Jaron Ennis patiently awaits news on his next assignment.
The wait for a much-anticipated matchup between he and WBC interim champion Vergil Ortiz, two of boxing's very best, continues after news this week shelving the latter through a promotional dispute with Golden Boy. Nonetheless, Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs, 1 NC) wants to make up for lost time with promoter Eddie Hearn insisting he'll return in May as he looks to make waves in his second weight division. His 154-pound debut was short and sweet, scoring three knockdowns en route to an explosive first-round finish of Uisma Lima (15-2, 10 KOs) on Oct. 11 in his native Philadelphia. Since then, Xander Zayas has unified WBO, WBA titles with a 12-round majority decision over Abass Baraou while Josh Kelly upset Russian boogeyman Bakhram Murtazaliev to lift the IBF crown on the same night, January 31. Former WBA beltholder Israil Madrimov also plans on returning to the top table at junior middleweight, two years after losing his strap in a competitive 12-round chess match with the now-retired Terence Crawford. So then, who should feature in the 28-year-old's next move?
