damn Just checked Boxrec, 1 round and corner retired .
PBC or whoever needs to push the Philly Kid, he’s got the goods imo.
Not PBC, this article from The Athletic this week explains the legal issues. I bolded the part about the promoters.
All Jaron “Boots” Ennis has wanted is to fight. The 22-year-old prodigal son of a veteran boxing trainer from Philadelphia was off to a torrid 22-0 start with 20 knockouts when a legal dispute over his promotional rights brought his career skidding to a stop for nine months.
Following an agreement that allows him to resume fighting as his civil case proceeds inside a federal court in Iowa — the welterweight is slotted in a non-broadcast bout on Friday night’s “ShoBox: The New Generation” card in Broken Arrow, Okla., on Showtime — Ennis has taken refuge from the career-binding strife by sticking to what got him here.
“It’s frustrating, but I remained focused by staying in the gym. I’ve kept my head on straight because sparring and hitting the bags takes a lot of stress off me,” Ennis said. “When I go to the gym or run, I feel better. I feel like I’m right back to normal.
“I’ve known I’ve got to stay focused. I’m not going out on the streets to do something dumb. I knew my team was going to handle it, that they would do what they need to do. So I stayed in the gym to do what I need to do. I kept believing I’d be back in the ring soon.”
It’s that maturity seemingly beyond his years that unites even the feuding parties in the Ennis case over a future in the sport that seems unquestionably brilliant.
“’Boots’ is so good. He’s got speed like Mayweather, power like a Roy Jones, and his reflexes are like a cat’s,” veteran manager and converted promoter Cameron Dunkin said. “He knows perfect distance, and his dad has groomed him in the gym. You can’t hit him with anything. He’s so quick and fast. Beyond that, every shot he throws just hurts people so bad. It drops them, destroys them.”
East Coast promoter-matchmaker Chris Middendorf, pitted against Dunkin in the lawsuit, says, “The only question I’ve had about ‘Boots’ is, ‘How good he can be?’ I think he can be a generational talent.”
Ennis fought five times last year, extending a streak of knocking out foes by the end of the fourth round to 12 as he moves to Friday’s bout with a 149-pound limit against Franklin Mamani (23-5-1, 13 KOs). Showtime, grasping the elevating interest in the intriguing talent, issued a news release Thursday informing that it will provide highlights of Ennis’ fight on its broadcast.
“When I started him, I decided I’d give him a lot of fights — not tough ones — and just get him accustomed to going to the ring and building his confidence and all of those things. I’ve tried pulling the reins back on him,” said Dunkin. “But then I’m like, ‘Wow, this guy’s 22-0,’ and everybody’s telling me he’s ready to fight (welterweight champion) Spence and all the top welterweights.”
Dunkin gets emotional in recounting the story of how he beat out rapper Jay-Z and loaded “Hollywood-type” people for the right to first manage Ennis. Dunkin had known Ennis’ trainer-father, Derek “Bozy” Ennis, dating to the time when he aligned a formerly highly thought of prospect from Philadelphia, Anthony Thompson, to the elder Ennis.
“It was so big when I signed ‘Boots.’ I had this relationship with the family forever, but there was so much money on the table for him from all over, I wasn’t sure I was going to get him. Nobody thought I’d get this guy,” Dunkin said.
Admitting the sport had “left me for dead” following partings with mercurial talents like WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford, former four-division champion Mikey Garcia and now-retired former two-division champion Timothy Bradley Jr., Dunkin said the uncertainty over being able to resurrect his career was at its height when he was chatting with the elder Ennis one day.
“Cameron, I’ve known you for 25 years. I’ve never seen you hurt nobody or steal from nobody. You’re who I want my son with. I want to be with you,” Dunkin recalls “Bozy” Ennis telling him.
“Then one night, ‘Bozy’s’ in his kitchen on the phone with me,” Dunkin continued, “and says, ‘Here comes ‘Boots.’ Hey, ‘Boots,’ who do you want to be with?’ And ‘Boots’ says, ‘I want to be with Cam.’
“I started crying like a little girl. The love, the commitment. It wasn’t about the money. I got the kid and was so excited about it.”
Dunkin explained that while the federal Muhammad Ali act permits a manager to function jointly as a promoter for young fighters as they’re developing through four-, six- and eight-round bouts, a separate promoter and manager are required once 10-round bouts are taken.
Dunkin and Middendorf had been in contact when “Boots” and “Bozy” Ennis signed their contract with Dunkin. Middendorf received a copy of the contract from Dunkin with the “promoter” line empty, so he signed it.
The crux of the case is whether Dunkin was originally seeking for Middendorf to serve as Ennis’ promoter, which Middendorf claims. Dunkin counters he was only sharing the good news of the signing with Middendorf and was considering him for a supporting role, perhaps in matchmaking, for Dunkin’s new promotional firm.
Dunkin has since formed his own promotional company, Now Boxing Promotions, which counts 14 fighters, including a junior middleweight, Canada’s Zsolt Daranyi, and another Friday “ShoBox” combatant, welterweight Brandun Lee (14-0, 12 KOs), in a stable Dunkin says is “the best talent I’ve ever had.”
The next hearing date for the Ennis case is in September, said Middendorf, who signed an agreement allowing Ennis to fight on Friday and again Oct. 5 in the Showtime-televised co-main event to Claressa Shields’ bid for a third women’s belt in Flint, Mich.
The 20-percent cut of Ennis’ purse reserved for the person who’ll ultimately be ruled as the promoter will be set aside in an escrow account until that verdict is finalized. Middendorf says he’s “completely confident” that he will prevail, adding, “We had several months of discussions about me being (Ennis’) promoter.
“I want him to fight, to win and look great (Friday). No one wants to interrupt a career like his. There are so many other forces interested in him,” Middendorf said. “Even though I’m suing the kid, all he wants to do is fight and I can’t really be upset with him over that. But when there’s that much money out there in the sport, like there is now, what do you expect? It’s the nature of the beast.”
Dunkin and Middendorf both alluded to the possibility of a legal settlement, which will consider Middendorf’s signed contract that doesn’t expire until April 2021 while he argues the missed months of Ennis’ current layoff should be added on to the contract’s expiration date.
In the darkest, most mind-racing moments during the layoff, when the gym work had been exhausted, Ennis said he’d go outside and play in pick-up street basketball or touch-football games with friends at a local park.
Ennis said, “I want Cameron to be my promoter. I know the boxing business from watching other fighters. Things happen. I’ve seen what I’ve seen — a lot of things. Right now, I’m not focusing on the past. It’s all about going forward.”
Dunkin said he’s continuously finding himself in awe by what Ennis can do in the ring.
“The only thing I have to worry about with him is that it’s so easy with him, sometimes he puts his hands on his kneecaps and plays around, and I’m like, ‘Bozy,’ please, don’t let him play around!’” Dunkin said.
“It’s so easy for him. He says, ‘Cam, I see all their punches coming. I know they’re throwing them before they throw them.’ That’s the same thing Mayweather said, the same thing Roy Jones said. We all know: The greatest fighters are the ones who are defensive. The real great ones are the ones who don’t get hit. And this kid’s one of those.
“He can walk forward and blast and make it an action fight and not get touched. That is amazing. Everyone who sees him asks, ‘Where did this guy come from?’”
Showtime President Stephen Espinoza is eager for his network to be part of Ennis’ star-building process.
“If I could wave a magic wand over one thing in this sport, I wish I could get a quicker, more definitive resolution to disputes like this, because whether it’s Mikey Garcia missing more than two years or Jaron Ennis missing almost a year, it’s really taxing and alarming for a fighter to watch the clock keep ticking while they’re sidelined due to a legal dispute,” Espinoza said.
“As frustrating as it for us at the network, it’s 100 times more frustrating for a guy like Jaron, given that he knows what he’s capable of and that he’s being kept from doing that for no other reason than a dispute. We’re anxious to have him back and anxious to get him busy.
“Jaron is just a couple of fights away from competing at the championship level and I know he wants to get there as soon as possible.”
Dunkin said the most positive thing revealed by the legal squabble is Jaron Ennis’ demeanor and commitment to achieving boxing greatness.
“I want him to be the best fighter in the world, an all-time great, and very few guys have the chance to do what he can do,” Dunkin said. “You can hear it in his own story. He was out nine months. Never whined, never complained, never cried. He kept going back to the gym to stay ready. How many guys that age would’ve cried or quit?”
“Boots” has already twice dominated on “ShoBox” cards and is itching to resume his ring activity.
“It’s time I get back on TV. That’s where I need to be. I want to keep showing the world my talent,” he said. “My style is to give the fans a show. I can box and I can punch. None of my fights will be boring. I want to put on a fans’ fight. I come for the knockout and you get speed, power and defense. You get it all. I’m everything in one.
“I’m ready to fight for a belt right now because I believe in who I am. I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing, and I’ll be a world champion soon.
“Real, real soon.”
(Top photo: Amanda Westcott / Showtime)
