ATLANTIC CITY – Jaron “Boots” Ennis wants victory in Saturday’s welterweight unification title fight against Eimantas Stanionis to represent the start of his “legacy”. 

The IBF champion and his WBA counterpart are to fight at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, where Floyd Mayweather and Bernard Hopkins are among the modern greats whose footsteps they will be following in, and in the knowledge that “Sugar” Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson and George Foreman are also among those to have fought in the once-thriving city on America’s east coast.

Ennis, 27, was elevated to the status of IBF champion when the great Terence Crawford was stripped of their title. His first fight for a world title was therefore his first defence – he convincingly defeated Russia’s David Avenesyan, a late-notice opponent when Cody Crowley withdrew – and his second was the rematch against the Ukrainian Karen Chukhadzhian that was ordered by the same sanctioning body despite how little demand existed for them to fight again.

That on Saturday he can also win the WBA and Ring Magazine titles has finally presented Ennis with a fight of true significance, years after his career had stalled while he and his welterweight rivals waited for Crawford and Errol Spence to finally meet. 

The reality also remains that Ennis’ future at 147lbs is limited and that the time will soon come when his growing frame means that he has little choice but to move up in weight. The victory he is expected to deliver over the proven Stanionis would regardless establish him beyond doubt as the world’s leading welterweight; it perhaps would also mean that he becomes recognised as the finest welterweight of his generation, ultimately securing the nature of legacy he has long been considered capable of building and that he and his father and trainer Derek “Bozy” have sought for years.

“I want to stamp my name in the welterweight division with those top guys, ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard; Floyd Mayweather,” he said at Thursday’s press conference. “Not too many guys can say they fought for the Ring Magazine belt and had it, and on Saturday night I will have it, and the WBA belt and IBF belt. That’s stamping my legacy right there. 

“From there it’s up. We gonna show the world why I’m the best in the world. We gonna put on, for sure. I ain’t gonna look for it, but it’s gonna come. 

“I’m definitely excited to fight at this iconic venue. One of my favourite fights to watch was Floyd versus [in 2005, Arturo] Gatti at this arena. I can’t wait. I’m going to try and put a historic performance on – just like that.

“I’m ready to show out; I’m ready to put on a show; show the world why I’m the best in the world. Come Saturday night, I’m taking home all these belts.

“We expect him to do what he normally do. Come forward; bring pressure; try to throw a lot of punches; try to jab; try to hook. A typical pressure fighter – I don’t think he can do much else.”

The understated Stanionis, 30 and of Lithuania, didn’t use the same word but he is perhaps seeking a legacy of a different nature. His wife Emily is due to give birth to their baby daughter – and first child – before he makes his way to the ring on Saturday, and a victory over a fighter like the groomed-for-greatness Ennis would transform the earning potential that presently exists for an Eastern European fighter fighting out of the US, and to the extent he could secure his family’s financial future.

Emily has remained in Lithuania throughout perhaps the most testing period of her first pregnancy while her husband has prepared to fight Ennis at Los Angeles’ Wild Card Boxing Club under the guidance of Marvin Somodio, and Stanionis said: “It’s a big opportunity. I know Ennis is a very good fighter, but I came here to give all my heart and put my best shot that I can put. 

“I know they might think they can knock me out – first of all, I’ve never been knocked out. I’m going to do my best. I came here for victory, not just to walk in the park. This camp was my most brutal training; it was the longest. I sacrificed a lot; I left my family; my wife is pregnant; the baby might come today or tomorrow. It’s a lot of sacrifices – because I love the sport and I believe in myself. I’ll give all my heart.

“The opportunity, and the opponent – I gave it everything. Everything is good now – ready to go. All gas, no brakes.”

“He said all gas, no brakes?” the composed Ennis responded. “He gon’ run right into a rock.”

“Bozy” Ennis has long been his son’s biggest champion, and ahead of a fight that could even prove the first of the IBF titlist’s physical peak, the trainer said: “We asked for Stanionis; we asked for Crawford; we asked for [Keith] Thurman; we asked for Spence. We asked for all of them back then. At that time nobody was willing to fight ‘Boots’. 

“I guess at the last fight [against Chukhadzhian in November] they saw something – they thought they saw something anyway, but that was a blessing. Now everybody wants to fight. I know who’s going to be victorious. I don’t think it’s going to last that long.”

Premier Boxing Champions’ status as Stanionis’ opponent means that Tom Brown was present at the top table at Caesar’s Hotel and Casino, and he reminded Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn – who secured Ennis’ signature following Ennis’ departure from PBC – of other occasions on which their fighters have been matched on the east coast.

“I always like coming to the east coast and fighting a Matchroom fighter,” he said. “We had a morgue scene up at The Garden, when [in New York] Andy Ruiz knocked out Anthony Joshua. Last time we were here at Boardwalk Hall we beat you when Andre Ward beat Carl Froch, so we’ve had pretty good luck with that match up.”

Anthony Joshua lost to Andy Ruiz in 2019 because he was all gas, no brakes. When Carl Froch lost to Andre Ward in 2011, he had run into a rock.