This ‘Boots’ is Made for Winning, and That’s Just What He’s Done

If Jaron “Boots” Ennis actually is the best young fighter to come out of Philadelphia since Meldrick Taylor, who was a 17-year-old gold medalist at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and went on to win world championships as a professional at both junior welterweight and welterweight, he is taking a hoped-for path to the top in an entirely different manner.

Although Taylor did not always listen to the instructions of his future Hall of Fame cornermen, the late and great tag team of George Benton and Lou Duva, he went into every bout with an intricately formulated fight plan. Benton, nicknamed “The Professor” for his scholarly ability to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of opponents, was particularly adept at getting his fighters mentally ready before the opening bell rang. It wasn’t his fault if Taylor, when he found himself in a give-and-take sort of fight, often chose to ignore the script and bang away with reckless abandon, as he did in his classic first showdown with Julio Cesar Chavez.

The 21-year-old Ennis (20-0, 18 KOs), who takes on fellow unbeaten Armando Alvarez (18-0, 12 KOs) in the 10-round welterweight main event of a ShoBox-televised fight card this Friday night in Sloan, Iowa, of all places, is less dedicated to the proposition of breaking down tapes of the other guy’s past fights or doing a lot of out-of-the-ring homework. And that’s by design, as his father-trainer, Derrick “Bozy” Ennis, figures it’s better to formulate fight plans on the fly. And why shouldn’t it be that way? There’s always the chance that Alvarez, or anyone else the young and talented “Boots” might face, will throw something completely different and unexpected at the youngest and mostly highly regarded of his three boxing sons. Better to have “Boots” start out by relying on his own considerable strengths and make adjustments as circumstances dictate.

“I don’t know anything about the guy,” Jaron said when asked what he knew about Alvarez, 28, who hails from Key West, Fla. “We usually don’t look at tape or do a lot of studying of opponents. My dad figures guys out and breaks them down in the first round or first couple of rounds. When he starts yelling instructions I just do what he says.”

So far the Ennis way, which might be described as improvisational boxing, has worked pretty well. Although Jaron is not ranked in the top 15 by any of the four major world sanctioning bodies in what is an unquestionably deep 147-pound weight class , that might owe to his youth, relative inexperience and lack of “name” opponents on his resume thus far. But those who have seen him at work recognize that, yes, there is something there that might soon have to be recognized on a much wider scale.

“For a 21-year-old he’s very polished, very skilled,” said veteran ShoBox announcer Steve Farhood. “He looks like the real deal. We’ll know more after he fights Alvarez, who is easily the toughest opponent he’s faced to this point.”

Alvarez, who also is unranked but harbors many of the same hopes of better days ahead that Jaron Ennis does, understands that he is the underdog in Iowa and is being portrayed as another steppingstone for “Boots” to walk over. But scripts aren’t always followed, and especially so if the hot prospect (Ennis comes in on a 10-fight knockout streak) he’s squaring off against doesn’t come with a script to begin with.

“This is the biggest opportunity I have ever received,” Alvarez said. “This is it. It’s on. Ennis is a great young fighter, but I think he has stepped out of his league. He is just a kid. The world will find out who Armando Alvarez is on July 20.”

To understand who Jaron Ennis is, and the burden he carries both as a representative of his family and his hometown, one must look at the mostly respectable but ultimately disappointing careers of older brothers Derek “Pooh” Ennis and Farah Ennis. “Pooh,” a retired super welterweight and middleweight who is now 37 years of age, posted a 24-5-1 with 13 KO victories, but the eldest of Bozy’s boxing sons had to settle for holding only Pennsylvania and USBA 154-poud championships. Farah, 35, went 22-2 with 12 wins inside the distance, briefly held the NABF super middleweight belt.

“Derek and Farah talk to Jaron all the time, which helps,” said Bozy. “They say, `Don’t do what I did when I was younger, when I had a chance to be better than I was.’  My other boys had talent, but they weren’t always as focused as they should have been. They let the women get to them. Hey, it happens.”

Presumably, “Pooh” and Farah also have told Jaron to lay off the cheesesteaks. “Both of them got big, real big, after they retired,” Bozy noted. “Farah’s about 236 now, `Pooh’ is, like, 250.”

Jaron, as of now, is refraining from yielding to temptations of the flesh. He is co-managed by his father and Las Vegas-based Cameron Dunkin, the Boxing Writers Association of America’s 2007 Manager of the Year who has handled any number of big-time fighters, including current WBO welterweight titlist Terence Crawford, arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. Dunkin does not sign new members to his managerial stable unless they have very high ceilings.

“I think he can be all that and more, if he stays as focused as he is now,” Bozy said when “Boots’” oft-stated comparison to Meldrick Taylor is mentioned. “He can go as far as he wants to in this game. And remember, he’s still young. He just turned 21 (on June 26), which is why I ain’t rushing nothin’. There’s no need to be rushing nothin’. He’s on his way. We can afford to take our time.”

Well, that might be Bozy’s thinking, but Jaron isn’t inclined to be quite so patient. “I eat, breathe and sleep this,” he said of his total dedication to his craft. “I’m all about the boxing. July 20 is just the start of taking it to a new level. I’m taking the Ennis name all the way to the top. The world is going to see that I’m ready (for big fights) now. And if not now, by the end of this year or the beginning of next year. I got the talent and a great team behind me. I’m ready.”

Farhood, despite his favorable impressions of Jaron, sounds a note of caution. Both Derek and Farah, he noted, lost in their first and only appearances on ShoBox. The Alvarez bout will be Jaron’s ShoBox debut.

“I know how much he wants to do well for his family, and for Philadelphia,” Farhood said. “Jesse Hart is a nice fighter and he’s still out there, but he lost his biggest fight (a points loss to WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez). Danny Garcia … it just doesn’t seem to me that he’s as associated with Philadelphia as some Philly fighters because he hasn’t fought there in a long time.

“Can this Ennis kid be that guy? Maybe. It’s definitely possible.”

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