Ennis Vs Lima In Philadelphia

Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis is making his debut at 154 against the upset-minded Uisma Lima at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Results

Tahmir Smalls (16-0, 11 KOs) won a highly controversial 10-round unanimous decision over the better-skilled and faster Jose Roman (14-2, 6 KOs) in a welterweight fight. There are no words to describe how poor a decision this was. Smalls was fortunate to get the win because he appeared to lose.

Fighting in his hometown of Philadelphia, Smalls, 26, dropped Roman with a big right-hand bomb, followed by a left in round three. Roman got up and barely made it out of the round by holding and moving. Interestingly, from that point on, Roman dominated the remainder of the fight, seemingly sweeping rounds 4-10. He was hitting and making Smalls look amateurish much of the time. The scores were 98-91, 96-93, and 95-94. Boxing News 24 had it for Roman 9-1. The only round he appeared to lose was the third.

Dennis Thompson (8-0, 5 KOs) used his size and power to defeat previously unbeaten Sean Diaz (9-1, 2 KOs) by a six-round split decision in super bantamweight action. Thompson walked Diaz down, using constant pressure and heavy shots to control most of the round. Diaz used too much showboating for the crowd, trying to throw Thompson off his game. It didn’t work.

The scores

• 60-53 – Thompson
• 57-56 – Diaz
• 57-56 – Thompson

In round five, Diaz was penalized for holding. He’d been doing that throughout the fight, and it finally caught up to him.

Tonight’s Start Time & Ringwalks

8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT for main card. The approximate ringwalk times for the Ennis vs. Lima main event: 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT.

How to Watch:

Live on DAZN worldwide.

Full Undercard Line-Up

Alexis Barriere vs. Guido Vianello – co-feature bout
Tahmir Smalls vs. Jose Roman
Khalil Coe vs. Jesse Hart
Giorgio Visioli vs. James Wilkins
Zaquin Moses vs. Antonio Dunton El Jr.
Dennis Thompson vs. Sean Diaz
Harley Mederos vs. Hylon Williams Jr
Justin Palmieri vs. Naheem Parker

The former IBF and WBA welterweight champion Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) recently vacated his two titles this year when he decided to move up to junior middleweight.

What’s at Stake: WBA Title Shot

The winner of tonight’s Ennis vs. Lima fight will have a guaranteed title shot against champion Abass Baraou. Again, this isn’t the direction that ‘Boots’ plans to go in. But for Lima, it’s a fight that he might take if he’s victorious tonight. Of course, a rematch with Ennis will surely be offered to him as well.

Fans have been critical of ‘Boots’ from the start about his decision to use Lima as his step-up opponent rather than a better-known, more formidable foe. To some people, it seems that Ennis’ career is based on taking easy fights, building a fluff record, and making money without showing any true ambition to face the best. They expect more from a fighter who is a nine-year pro about to turn 29 soon.

Ennis’ recent form

Eimantas Stanionis – W-RTD 6
Karen Chukhadzhian – W-UD 12
David Avanesyan – W-RTD 5
Roiman Villa – W-KO 10
Custio Clayton – W-KO 2

‘Boots’ sixth-round knockout of WBA welterweight champion Stanionis earlier this year on April 12th was impressive, showing how good he can be against a slugger that comes forward. That was a far better performance for Ennis compared to his victories over Chukhadzhian, Villa, and David Avanesyan.

Lima’s Recent form

Shervantaigh Koopman – W-TKO 9
Sukhdeep Singh Bhatti – W-UD 12
Haro Matevosyan – W-RD 10
Araik Marutjan – W-UD 8
Aaron McKenna – L-UD 10

The 12-round fight is a WBA junior middleweight world title eliminator to decide a mandatory challenger for champion Abass Baraou. That’s not the fight that Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) is targeting. If he’s victorious tonight, he wants the better-known champions, Sebastian Fundora or Vergil Ortiz Jr., next.