Jaron Ennis promised
Uisma Lima that he will ruin the huge underdog’s reputation as a road warrior Saturday night in Philadelphia.
Lima has beaten opponents in the countries where they reside four consecutive times. Those victories encouraged the Angolan-born Lima to challenge Ennis in his hometown, where
they’ll fight for the WBA interim super welterweight title at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Ennis respects Lima’s ambition, but the former Ring, IBF and WBA welterweight champion expects to manhandle him in a manner reflective of the 30-1 odds listed by DraftKings.
“
He’s confident,” Ennis said during a press conference Thursday. “I like it. I like the confidence, but he’s talking too much. And now he's gonna get exactly what he’s looking for. You know, it’s gonna be an early night and I [will] have some fun. And we gonna show out. You know, I’m not playing. I’m not here to play games.”
Portugal’s Lima (14-1, 10 KOs) lost a 10-round unanimous decision to Irish middleweight contender Aaron McKenna (20-0, 10 KOs) in June 2023 at York Hall in London. Since then, Lima has beaten Germany’s Araik Marujtan (14-2, 6 KOs), Germany’s Haro Matevosyan (18-1, 9 KOs), Canada’s Sukhdeep Singh Bhatti (20-1, 8 KOs) and South Africa’s Shervantaigh Koopman (15-1, 10 KOs) in four fights that have helped legitimize Lima as a junior middleweight contender.
“He's definitely a good fighter, for sure,” Ennis said. “You know, I watched him. I like what I see. You know, good fighter, but it’s levels. Like you fighting those guys over there. They don’t got my skill, they don’t got my power, my ability. I’m on a whole different level, and when he actually gets in there with me on Saturday night, he's gonna be like, ‘Yo, he's a lot faster than what I thought. He's a lot stronger than what I thought, a lot slicker.’ Like, it’s levels. He knows that. You know he knows that, but we're gonna see.”
Lima admitted Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs, 1 NC) will be the most formidable opponent he’ll have encountered in 54 combined bouts as an amateur and pro. He nevertheless believes Ennis is in for a surprise when the career-long welterweight competes at the junior middleweight limit of 154 pounds for the first time.
Ennis seemed unfazed when Lima noted that he, too, is fast, powerful and skillful.
“I know what he's bringing to the table,” Ennis said. “And like I said, whatever he brings, I [will] be ready. And it’s that time.”
DAZN will stream the 12-round bout between Ennis, 28, and Lima, 32, as its main event of a show scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT). Canadian heavyweight Alexis Barriere (12-0, 10 KOs) will battle Italy’s Guido Vianello (13-3-1, 11 KOs) in the 10-round co-feature.
Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.