Friday, April 11

ATLANTIC CITY – One of the oddities of a ceremonial weigh-in is that there are times that those in attendance gather to watch a fighter fail to make weight. 

BoxingScene arrived at Friday evening’s weigh-in at Caesar’s Hotel and Casino, for the appealing IBF and WBA welterweight title fight between the respective champions Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis, aware that Argentina’s Franco Ocampo, who has been matched with his fellow welterweight Shakhram Giyasov of Uzbekistan, came in three pounds overweight having already earlier been heavier and even further over the limit.

Their fight, regardless, will still take place on Saturday evening at the Boardwalk Hall, and for that reason everyone in town for Ennis-Stanionis – dozens of staff for Matchroom, DAZN, and beyond – watched him again weigh in over the limit and make of mockery of the “ceremony” of which he was a part.

David Diamante, the master of ceremonies for Matchroom and DAZN, also struggled to deliver. He announced Ennis – the face of boxing in Philadelphia, the IBF welterweight champion, the significant asset for Matchroom and DAZN and the chief attraction involved in Saturday’s promotion – as 32-0. The 27-year-old Ennis is actually 33-0. He has even said more than once in the build-up to Saturday’s fight that once it is over he will be 34-0. Diamante’s oversight was also in contrast to those working for the same organisations who worked to improve the lighting for the weigh-in after being disappointed with it for Thursday’s press conference in the very same place.

Those working on behalf of Stanionis perhaps showed greater attention to detail in the request they made to the New Jersey Athletic Control Board overseeing Saturday’s promotion that Ennis be instructed to shave his beard. Their request was dismissed. 

The nature of a ceremonial weigh-in perhaps also presented Ennis with another potential advantage. He has the frame to eventually fight at middleweight, which is something his father and trainer Derek “Bozy” Ennis expects him to one day do. He therefore has even more time to rehydrate to his desired fighting weight against the smaller opponent he will share the ring with on Saturday evening.  

“It’s going to benefit ‘Boots’ Ennis a lot more,” the retired Sergio Mora, in Atlantic City on behalf of DAZN, explained to BoxingScene. “He’s a taller fighter; wider shoulders. You can see that Stanionis is a much smaller 147-pounder. The muscle’s already there. It’s Ennis who’s going to look bulkier, and the confidence of knowing that he can rehydrate as much as he wants is going to be the confidence he needed and didn’t have with Karen Chukhadzhian in his last fight. 

“Boots has a chip on his shoulder from his last performance. He felt he let a lot of people down. We’re going to see the best of Boots Ennis – something special [on Saturday night].

“I asked Stanionis that question [about how much Ennis is going to weigh] and he didn’t want to answer but I think Ennis is going to rehydrate by [up to] 15lbs. When a fighter’s in good shape, 15lbs is probably the max – anything else shouldn’t be good for the fighter. But 15lbs should be good.

“He’s a tall fighter; wide shoulders. If he still wants to carry that power the most I can see him going to is 160lbs [when in future he moves up in weight]. He’s probably going to reign supreme at 154 for some time.”

Shakur Stevenson has made it to Atlantic City to be present to support his friend Raymond Ford, who is trained by Stevenson’s cousin Tarae. Stephen Fulton Jnr, trained by “Bozy” Ennis, is expected to be present on Saturday in support of “Boots”. 

Incidentally Stanionis’ wife Emily was due to give birth to their baby daughter on Thursday. After Friday evening’s weigh-in, their first child was still to be born.