Based on everything Eddie Hearn has heard out of Jaron Ennis’ training camp, the British promoter expects an even more dominating performance from him Saturday night in Philadelphia.

Ennis easily beat previously undefeated Eimantas Stanionis in their welterweight title unification fight April 12 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. That still wasn’t Ennis at his best, according to Hearn, because the former Ring/IBF/WBA welterweight champion drained himself so much to drop down to 147 pounds.

Ennis, 28, only needs to get down to 154 pounds by Friday afternoon for his junior middleweight debut against Angola’s Uisma Lima. The additional weight allowance is among the reasons Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs, 1 NC) is a 25-1 favorite to beat Lima (14-1, 10 KOs) in their 12-round WBA elimination match.

“Honestly,” Hearn told The Ring, “the word out of camp is like if you thought Boots was good at 147, wait till you see him at 154. … It was depleting him to a point where it would affect his performance. It would affect his engine, it would affect his punch power, it would affect his output. You know, [manager] Sam Jones has been in Philly with Jack Catterall. He said, ‘Ed, I’ve been watching him spar. I’ve never seen a fighter like him. I’ve seen all the top fighters.’”

Catterall, a junior welterweight contender from England, recently hired Ennis’ father and trainer, Derek “Bozy” Ennis, to work with him. Whereas Catterall is inching toward the end of his physical prime, Jaron Ennis is at his peak and eager to test himself within his stacked new division.

“Lima’s a good fighter,” Hearn said. “This is not an easy fight to go into at ’54. But after this fight, we want Vergil Ortiz, we want [Bakhram] Murtazaliev, we want [Sebastian] Fundora. He will beat them all. We just gotta make sure we get those fights. And I’m very excited to see him perform at ’54. …

"Everyone I speak to is like, ‘My God! Just wait to see what you are about to witness in Philadelphia [on Saturday night].’”

Ennis has fought at or near the welterweight limit for most of his nine-year pro career.

Lima, 32, owns the IBO title and has been a junior middleweight or a middleweight for all of his 6½ years as a pro. Still, he lost a one-sided, 10-round unanimous decision to Ireland’s Aaron McKenna (20-0, 10 KOs) in June 2023 and hasn’t faced anyone as talented as Ennis.

DAZN will stream Ennis-Lima as its main event from the home venue of the NBA’s Sixers and NHL’s Flyers. The streaming service’s undercard coverage is set to start at 8 p.m. ET (1 a.m. BST).