ATLANTIC CITY – Jaron “Boots” Ennis produced the finest performance of his career to record his finest win by stopping Eimantas Stanionis in six one-sided rounds to unify the IBF and WBA welterweight titles.

There had been a void at the top of one of the most celebrated weight divisions since Terence Crawford followed winning the undisputed title in 2023 by moving up to 154lbs.

Stanionis, the previously undefeated defending WBA champion, represented Ennis’ greatest test and yet Ennis demonstrated his considerable abilities to brutally and ruthless stop him after knocking him down and winning every round, forcing the Lithuanian’s corner to rescue him.

Ennis, prematurely before the impressive dismantling of Stanionis at the Boardwalk Hall, had been anointed as Crawford’s successor and capable of following in his footsteps and those of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao as another of the modern era’s welterweight greats.

The fight between he and Stanionis had been widely recognised as one between the division’s number one and two, and yet Stanionis – both durable and proven – consistently looked overmatched.

If Ennis walked to the ring in the most relaxed of manners he carried that sense of relaxation into the first round. His superior range meant him succeeding with his jab, and his superior feet meant him dictating the range at which they were fighting and therefore keeping the aggressive Stanionis at bay. 

Stanionis walked forwards with his gloves high and was punished by a right to the body. He responded by landing a left hook to the head that Ennis convincingly absorbed, and after Ennis threw a right to the body he ducked the next left hand while Stanionis’ face turned red, demonstrating that Ennis’ jabs were getting through his guard.

Ennis followed further jabs in the second with a left to the body and then to the head, and when Stanionis threw left hands, Ennis targeted his body. Among Stanionis’ strengths is his stamina and conditioning, but another uppercut to his body suggested that that stamina was under threat. A left hand from Stanionis that followed was the best punch of the round, but Ennis remained undeterred, and in turn landed another left uppercut.

Stanionis over-reached with a left hand in the third and was soon punished by a right and another right uppercut. Ennis then lost his balance and fell forwards while taking a punch but the referee David Fields, rightly, ruled that he had slipped. 

Ennis, growing in confidence, relaxed further and let his hands go. Stanionis landed a jab but was not only being outclassed, he was being outworked. 

The advantage Ennis possessed in speed, similarly, was contributing to his increasing dominance. A left-right found its target and halted the determined Stanionis; the 30-year-old’s right eye was swelling up and blood was trickling from his nose in signs that he was being broken down.

It was in the fifth when he backed Ennis towards a corner and started landing to his body. He found a left hand; Ennis found a right. He landed three more times in his most positive exchange since the second round, but as they traded Ennis then landed another left that brought further blood from Stanionis’ nose and threatened to bully a fighter driven to stand his ground.

Perhaps the clearest sign of the challenge Stanionis was confronting came in the sixth, when after Ennis again unloaded and landed an uppercut, Stanionis swung and missed. His team had vowed that he would not look one-dimensional, but the only new trait that was shown was the toughness he previously hadn’t required. 

A left hand bounced off of Ennis’ skull, and Stanionis was then backed up towards the ropes where repeated left uppercuts damaged his nose further and knocked him down. He quickly, like a fighter unaccustomed to being knocked down, returned to his feet and nodded in an acknowledgment that he was in trouble. He then bravely fought back as they again traded and he was wobbled again.

As the round concluded he stood his ground and they exchanged a look – Stanionis, admirably, was ready to fight on. His trainer Marvin Somodio chose to rescue him, however, and rightly instructed Fields that the fight was over. Stanionis dropped to 15-1 (9 KOs).

“I think I did [make a statement],” said the 27-year-old Ennis, who also won the Ring Magazine title and improved to 34-0 (30 KOs). “But I want to go back and watch it. I feel like I was just getting in my groove, starting to get loose and have fun, and my dad [and trainer Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis] told me to keep pressing; [the ref is] gonna stop it. What’s crazy is, I had a dream I was gonna stop it just like this, in the seventh round… it came through.

“The biggest part was me having my fun, being myself and having a live body in front of me. When I got a live body in front of me, y’all see what happened. I put on a show. I had my fun. I showed you speed; power; defence. I showed you a little bit of inside game. I showed you everything. Like I said, when I got a live body in front of me, it’s a whole different story. You gonna see a whole different ‘Boots’, and I’m gonna keep taking it to the next level.

“I felt like I could go to the body as much as I wanted to. He was much shorter in the ring – the way he fights. He’d, like, kneel down, so when I was trying to go to his body, I was like, I gotta do something different. So, you know. I did that and I still found a way to get to that body.”