Ennis vs Stanionis: Jaron Laces Up His Boots for a Battle in Atlantic City. 

Jaron Ennis laces his boots up tight in preparation for a title unification and more importantly, lineal champion at welterweight. His opponent Eimantas Stanionis is a rugged fighter who also brings solid fundamentals offensively to the ring. It’s been a long journey for both men to get a big fight opportunity. It hasn’t been easy to find suitable foes for Jaron Ennis often due to the risk versus reward. Eimantas Stanionis had a significant fight signed with budding star Vergil Ortiz only to see the fight fallout. Jaron Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis are due to battle in Atlantic City, streaming live on DAZN.

If someone casually checked the scorecards on boxrec in both fights between Jaron Ennis and Karen Chukhadzhian they would think it was a walk in the park for ‘Boots’. Their first meeting was a boring 12-round slosh no doubt, but it was obvious to see that Karen was a bad style matchup for Ennis. It was the first time since 2017 Jaron had gone the distance. Twenty straight bouts of not reaching the final bell and back then it was a 6-rounder. After back-to-back stoppages the IBF called guess who, Karen as the mandatory challenger.

The second go round was a better scrap that once again proved to be a tricky style for Boots to deal with. Don’t get this boxing podcaster wrong, Ennis won the rematch clearly. The somewhat potentially troubling part was his defense. We all know Ennis loves to mix it up and tends to get hit more than he should. Usually from focusing on scoring a knockout instead of winning rounds. Ennis out threw and out landed Karen to the tune off 224 lands out of 730 punches thrown according to compubox. Landing at an impressive rate of 31 percent overall and 36 percent on power punches.

That said Karen landed at higher rates of 33 overall and 37 percent on power shots. Flush left hands repeatedly found a home to the point it could be an issue once Ennis steps up to the higher levels in the sport. On Saturday night will find out what level Stanionis and Ennis are at currently at. As previously mentioned, Eimantas struck out not once, not twice but three times in search of a meaningful fight. The first time it was Stanionis having to delay the fight with Ortiz due to appendix surgery. The next two occasions, Vergil Ortiz was dealing with a recurrence of Rhabdomyolysis.

Stanionis’s most difficult fight came against Radzhab Butaev in 2022. Like Boots and Karen, two of the judges’ scorecards don’t tell the full story. Now it should be noted it was a split-decision, and this boxing fan didn’t see Butaev winning 7 rounds as one judge scored it. Stanionis is coming off almost a year out of the ring whereas Ennis did manage to get in two fights last year. The time has come to breakdown this fight and give a prediction of the outcome to this interesting tilt this Saturday.

Stanionis keeps a high and tight high guard using a jab to set up his power punches. He tends to fight in the middle of the ring at range as he applies responsible pressure. He also has a good punch rate targeting the body and head. Butaev out landed him to the body so will see if Ennis aims for the body in the first part of the fight. Straight and looping right hands, left hooks and short upper cuts are Eimantas’s weapons of choice.

Don’t be surprised to see Ennis using his sizable reach advantage, 74-inch reach compared to Stanionis’s 68 inches according to boxrec. Jabbing while using his length moving laterally as he gets comfortable would be a smart tactic in the early goings for Ennis. Neither man has great footwork and at times it can be full of errors, so it’s just a matter of who will take advantage of it at any given time.

Another thing to keep in mind is which boxer is effective using angles on offense. Although Ennis will pivot, he tends to want to engage in a toe-to-toe affair. If he blends some banging and smart boxing to ensure a round is won, he will win clearly. Both men will land their jabs, look for Ennis to eventually time the jab of Stanionis. Ennis will get a chance to show how much he has learned in those competitive rounds versus Karen. For about half of the fight maybe all the way to the 7th or 8, we should get plenty of two-way traffic.

Ennis’s ability to fight on the interior and from outside the pocket along with mixing up his punch combinations will be the difference. Boots has power or at the very least real pop and will need to use his athleticism throughout. Ennis will begin with landing to the body with power punches and clean counters stopping Stanionis in his tracks. If he wants to give the Philly-leaning crowd a showstopper instead of a points win it could be a majority or split decision outcome. Ennis is a +144 via KO and –121 by decision. If you’re anticipating a full-on brawl you may want to take a flyer on Stanionis at +990 for KO or+810 by decision. Ultimately a clear win but it won’t come easy for Boots Ennis.

My Predictions is Jaron Ennis by Unanimous Decision.

PODCAST LINK: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rope-a-dope-radio-podcast/id1794655742?i=1000702917404

Side Note: Raymond Ford returns in the co-feature against Thomas Mattice.

Written by Chris Carlson Host/Producer of The Rope A Dope Radio Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker, I-Heart Radio, Amazon Podcasts, Google Podcasts & More! Follow on Twitter @RopeADopeRadio