Jaron Ennis will secure one of the welterweight title unification fights he wants unless negotiations unexpectedly take a turn for the worse in the coming days.
The Ring has learned that a deal is nearly complete for Philadelphia’s Ennis to battle WBA 147-pound champ Eimantas Stanionis on April 12 in a main event DAZN would stream worldwide. The probable site for this 12-round bout between Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs, 1 NC) and Stanionis (15-0, 9 KOs, 1 NC) is Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, less than an hour from the hometown arena where Ennis established himself as a draw during the last half of 2024.
Once finalized, the winner will be crowned The Ring welterweight champion in addition to unifying the IBF and WBA titles. Ennis and Stanionis, are rated No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, by The Ring. The championship slot was vacated last summer by Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), now The Ring's No. 1 junior middleweight where he holds the WBA and interim WBO titles.
ESPN.com’s Mike Coppinger first reported that April is the targeted time frame for Ennis-Stanionis.
Ennis expressed in recent weeks to promoter Eddie Hearn that he wanted to fight Lithuania’s Stanionis somewhere other than Wells Fargo Center, home to the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s Flyers. The unbeaten IBF welterweight champ attracted an announced crowd of 14,119 there for his five-round stoppage of Russia’s David Avanesyan (31-5-1, 19 KOs) on July 13 and more than 11,000 for his unanimous-decision victory over Ukraine’s Karen Chukhadzhian (24-3, 13 KOs) in their 12-round rematch November 9.
The 27-year-old Ennis remains one of boxing’s most complete talents. He has drawn widespread criticism, however, for fighting Chukhadzhian a second time only 22 months after he shut out the unthreatening underdog on all three scorecards at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
Proposed fights for Ennis against rival Vergil Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs), who owns the WBC super welterweight title, and WBO welterweight champ Brian Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KOs) haven’t materialized for various reasons, either.
Stanionis, 30, represented Lithuania in the 2016 Rio Olympics. He hasn’t been particularly active since he turned pro in April 2017, but industry insiders consider the durable boxer-puncher the most imposing opponent Ennis has agreed to fight in nearly nine years as a pro.
Assuming Stanionis faces Ennis, he’ll end almost a one-year layoff April 12. Most recently, Stanionis out-classed Venezuela’s Gabriel Maestre (6-1-1, 5 KOs) on his way to a 12-round, unanimous points win last May 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.