IBF welterweight champion Jaron Ennis will reportedly not face Teofimo Lopez for his first fight of 2025.
Jaron Ennis, after a dominant win over Karen Chukhadzhian to retain his IBF welterweight championship, had several high-profile opponents on his radar for his next bout. Teofimo Lopez and Mario Barrios were two names linked to Ennis’s return to the ring in 2025.
According to a report from Ring Magazine, the Lopez and Barrios matchups will have to wait.
Ennis will reportedly face WBA titleholder Eimantas Stanionis in a welterweight title unification bout on April 12th in Atlantic City. Contract negotiations, as of this writing, are expected to be finalized in the coming days, but both sides have verbally agreed to the fight.
Ennis’s pursuit of undisputed welterweight champion status begins with the Stanionis fight later this year. A win over Stanionis would likely set him up for a potential super fight with Lopez, and another unification bout against Barrios.
Ring Magazine: Jaron Ennis vs. Eimantas Stanionis in the works for April 22nd
Stanionis is 15-0 in his career with nine knockouts, including recent finishes of Janer Gonzalez and Justin DeLoach. He most recently outpointed Gabriel Maestre by unanimous decision last May.
Stanionis earned the WBA welterweight championship by split decision over Radzhab Butaev in April 2022. His win over Maestre was his first WBA welterweight title defense.
Ennis, since winning the interim IBF welterweight championship in 2023, has looked dominant since his promotion to lineal titleholder. He knocked out Roiman Villa to retain the IBF interim belt before finishing David Avanesyan last July.
Jaron Ennis begins welterweight unification pursuit against Eimantas Stanionis
Ennis vs. Stanionis adds to an intriguing boxing event slate to kick off the new year. One of the most stacked boxing events in the sport’s history on February 22nd in Riyadh features two mega title fights.
Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker, along with Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2, headlines the February 22nd Riyadh Season card. Canelo Alvarez is also in active negotiations to face Terence Crawford in a super fight later this year in Las Vegas.
The full fight card for the Ennis vs. Stanionis event is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks.
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