Boots are looking for elite enemies

Jaron “Boots” Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs) made his super welterweight debut on Saturday night against Uisma “Monstro” Lima (14-2, 10 KOs), and he made quite the statement, as he completely dominated Lima, defeating him by technical knockout.

Uisma landed just two punches and was overwhelmed by the defense of Butts’ offense, which landed 42.9 percent of his power punches (Compubox). Ennis captured the interim WBA title with the win and is now seeking to dominate the 154-pound division. After his win, he recalled all the current champions (WBC interim) Virgil Ortiz, (IBF) Bakhram Murtazaliev, (WBO) Xander Zayas, and (WBC) Sebastian Fundora.

After his victory, Potts said: “154 is my division.” His ultimate goal is to become the undisputed champion, so he might as well face them all. Eddie Hearn reiterated his previous statement regarding Virgil Ortiz in the post-fight press conference, “I’ve said it 10 times, 100 times. We sat in a room with Oscar De La Hoya and Eric Gomez, the top executives at DAZN, and negotiated a deal to fight Vergil Ortiz.

“We all agreed, let’s do it. We said they’re going to fight, and then January, February, March, wherever it will be. We even said, let’s do it in Dallas. I said let’s do it in Philadelphia, and we all agreed let’s do it in Las Vegas. We went away on those terms that we agreed to. We presented it to Jaron Ennis. He signed the contract.”

“We haven’t heard back from them. This week, Eric Gomez called me and said, ‘Look, let’s get Lubin out of the way, and then we’ll do our best to try to make the fight.’ So, we’re giving them the benefit of the doubt. I know Oscar wants to make great fights, but we’re desperate for this fight because we’re desperate for American boxing to be great fights between two young men.”

“Not two guys in their late 30s, not two guys nearing the end of their careers, two guys in their absolute prime. So, if everyone is true to their word, you’ll see Potts vs. Ortiz in early 2026.”

Potts looked very impressive in his debut at 154 pounds. The extra weight allowed it to be much better. A little stronger and faster, without having to sacrifice weight. After his dominant performance on Saturday night, it will be interesting to see if Golden Boy actually decides to face Ortiz against Boots.

However, Virgil must first get past Eriksson Lubin, who is ranked as the fifth best super welterweight by Ring Magazine. Potts himself is aware of how difficult the match is and said the following in the press conference, “It’s a great fight and I think it’s a 50-50 fight for sure. You know, you can’t really sleep on Lupin. He’s a crafty guy. He’s sharp, and he can hit as well.

“So, you know, it’s going to be a great fight. You know, Virgil is putting pressure on and taking a good beating, landing a lot of punches. It’s a great boxing fight. I think it’s a 50-50 fight. But, yeah. Yeah… but I can get the winner, or as I said, the belts. You know, I’m trying to be, you know, undisputed. You know, pick up those belts and lock them up. You’re up because you’re talking too a lot.”

Potts received some criticism for selecting Lima as his opponent in this match, but he and Hearn stated that the original opponent for this match would be Keith Thurman. An application was submitted to the PBC, but they were ultimately unable to put up a fight with them. Ennis seems intent on becoming undisputed, and if the Ortiz bout doesn’t happen, he will likely seek to fight Bakram Murtazaliev, who has been itching to get back into the ring.

He has not fought since defeating Tim Tszyu in October 2024. This seems like the next logical option as Fundora recently postponed his October 25 fight due to a hand injury. Buckram even took to Twitter immediately after hearing Potts call him out by posting: “I’m ready.” Whoever Potts faces next, it will be against the caliber of opponent everyone has been clamoring to see.