Ennis makes his debut at 154 against Uisma Lima

Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis says he’ll show the fans “New shoes”” in his 154 debut against Uisma Lima on Saturday, October 11 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.

(Credit: Emma Brawley/Boxing in the Match Room)

New shoes arrive

Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) believes he will be stronger at 154 than he was when he was fighting at 147, and will have to shed massive amounts of weight. However, this week, he looked just as emaciated when reaching the 154-pound limit for Friday’s weigh-in as he did when he was campaigning at welterweight.

Mission statement shoes

“I’m happy to be able to fight a top 10 guy at 154. He’s very confident. Like he said, he’s a road warrior. He’s been beating some of these guys. I’m happy to have a confident guy in front of me. I’m going to show the world the new boots at 154,” Jaron “Boots” Ennis said. Ring magazinediscusses his fight against Uisma Lima on Saturday.

While Lima is technically a top-10 junior middleweight contender, he lacks the resume to suggest he belongs there. He has not defeated any of the top level 15 competitors during his career

“I stay focused on the task at hand,” Ennis said when asked if fans will see him fight Virgil Ortiz Jr. in 2026. “I’m trying to get that money and I’m trying to make a statement at 154. Then we can talk about these other guys after that.”

Critics remain skeptical

Ennis should have overruled his promoter, Eddie Hearn, when he selected Osama Lima for his debut at the age of 154. There are plenty of fighters in the weight class that he could have fought that he was the favorite to beat, and the fans will give him credit.

These are the fighters fans want to see Ennis fight:

Virgil Ortiz Jr
Terence Crawford
Sebastian Fundora
Xander Zayas
Jesus Ramos Jr
Ericsson Lobby
Serhiy Bohachuk
Israel Madrimov
Keith Thurman
Abbas Baro
Tim Tszyu

Discuss bully weight

Considering how exhausted “Shoes” Ennis has been this week, the chances of him staying in the 154th long enough to fight even four of the aforementioned fighters are slim. He’s already quite old for the division, which says a lot about his time at 147 years old.

It strengthens the argument that some fans believed “Boots” was a weight bully when he fought at welterweight.

Written by Sean Jones – Fight game analyst, chronicling boxing since 2016.