Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, is an up-and-coming fighter who currently competes in the welterweight division. There has been much hype around Ennis due to his impressive record built up so far with many KOs.
But what makes Ennis so impressive is that he also uses flashy and slick skills similar to that of Floyd Mayweather or Roy Jones Jr, but with a killer instinct similar to that of the top two welterweights Spence and Crawford.
In this boxing style analysis, I’ll be taking a closer look at some of the elements of Ennis’ style, and how he could develop into one of the top champions.
You can watch my video version or continue reading below:
Who is Jaron Ennis
First up here is some background on the American and how he rose quickly to become a top contender at such a young age. Ennis started boxing at a young age having much success as an amateur. Came second and also won the prestigious Golden Gloves competition for two consecutive years in 2014-15.
Ennis also comes from a family of boxers, with his two older brothers also trained by his father Derrick Ennis, who had moderate success as a pro. But no question the youngest Jaron has all the potential in the world to be a world-beater.
At the end of his amateur career, he was tipped to get into the US Olympic team for 2016. Ennis had however suffered an upset against Gary Russell. But instead of feeling sorry for himself the young American got to work and turned pro in 2016 to start his journey to get to the top of the pro game.
So far Boots Ennis has only been impressed with the vast majority of his fights ending in knockouts while dazzling at the same time.
This man is certainly on a mission to be on a list with the likes of Joe Frazier, and Bernard Hopkins as one of the best from Philadelphia and even the world.
Achievements to date
Amateur
- Golden Gloves – Silver 2014
- Golden Gloves – Gold 2015
- USA National Youth Championships – 2015
Jaron Ennis Boxing Style
Ennis has a very unique boxing style in the sense that he is so fluid. Always looks like he is enjoying himself while in the ring. For me, he has a very flowing style with his main source of attack and defense being counterpunching.
However, he is also very capable of taking the fight to his opponent by fighting on the inside Or Even being your typical boxer-puncher with flash and quick combination punches and knockout power.
He truly is an exciting fighter to watch and you can tell coming from a family that has participated in the sport his boxing IQ is up there with the best even at the age he is at.
Ennis is still to fight a very top-level opponent, but I’m sure once he gets the opportunity he will very much shine!
But now let’s go into the specific elements of Boots Ennis and what makes him so appealing to watch!
Switch Hitting
Now one of the key elements we have seen from ‘Boots’ Ennis, is his ability to switch hit or change stance throughout a fight or even mid-round with ease. Obviously against lesser competition he has had much success doing this to date. (Check out my article on other switch hitters here)
He will often use the shift technique to do this, as this is a quick way to quickly change his stance while still being on the offensive. Quite often this technique is applied with the correct timing and moment. Opponents do not have enough time to react or adapt to his changing stance. See Ennis below using this technique in action to switch hits.
You can find out more about the shift technique here.
Orthodox or southpaw stance?
Now from watching Ennis to date, he clearly can box both ways just as comfortably as the other. Usually, in the first round, he prefers to start fighting in an orthodox stance from mid to long-range.
The Philadelphian has a long reach of 74’ and will use his jab to test and figure out his opponent by throwing the lead hand from his Philly shell stance.
He has quickly been able to show he is a far superior boxer to the opponent he’s faced to date. So once he has them figured out he will use the shift technique as mentioned to transition to his southpaw stance. He will also change stance depending on where his opponent will move, E.g. if he moves or circles to his right, he will change to southpaw, as he is able to quickly continue his offense.
This is something Marvin Hagler would also do, and was also a reason why many opponents struggled to keep him off as whatever direction the opponent would move he would be able to keep pressure through the position.
Another way he switches stance is right after an exchange up close (on the inside) or when the ref breaks them for a clinch. Ennis will use this as an opportunity to reset himself in a new stance.
The Lead Hand
Now one of the first things you will notice with Ennis is his sharp and varied jab. At the start of most fights as mentioned, he’ll look to see how his opponent will approach the fight. But like all the great champions Ennis will mix it up with the following:
- Up Jabs
- Gazelle Jab (leaping jab)
- Jab to the body
- Jab to the head \ guard
- Forearm control
- Double Jabs
- Slap hook
- Corkscrew Jab
Now as you can tell this is quite a lot to use, but Ennis is superb at mixing up his lead which creates indecisiveness and mistakes from his opponents which therefore leads to openings!
Not only that, he does it as orthodox or southpaw…Check these out in action below:
Jaron 'Boots' Ennis using the lead handAttack by drawing & defense
Now for Ennis, as mentioned he very much works off his defense and counterpunching. Or as Bruce Lee puts it in his ‘Jeet Kune Do’ – Attack by Drawing.
In other words, as Lee put it:
“The counterattack is not a defensive action, but a method of using the opponent’s offense as a means of the successful completion of one’s own attack. The counter attack is an advance phase of offense…it is the greatest art of fighting, the art of champion”
– Bruce Lee
For the most part to date, Ennis has only faced come forward aggressive fighters. So this plays very much in his favor.
For example when in the southpaw stance, he will circle to the left of his opponent before quickly countering with a catch hook and changing direction.
The other way Ennis takes advantage of his defensive positioning and stance. By using the Philly shell from either stance, he very intelligently waits to roll with the punches thrown before returning with an uppercut or straight shot!
The other thing to take note of this is, that he won’t just tend to stay in the same place after he throws the punch, he will always tend to roll, use waist movement or move with footwork. He is always in the mindset of using defense to set up attacks.
The crazy thing for me is that he looks just as good in both stances!
Defense
In terms of his defense, he overall has very good footwork from being able to pivot or using lateral movement. The reason he is so hard to hit is that instead of moving back in straight lines, he’s always looking to change the angle.
This is really helped by the fact he is so good at rolling with shots and using his waist movement all before moving. Ennis has also obviously taken a note from the likes of Canelo, where if he does get clipped, he will move his head with the punch to limit the impact.
Ennis also uses an arm like a matador to control his opponent whether that be to move out of the way to gain superior positioning or even set up shots.
His reactions and anticipation have to be up there with the very best in the sport right now. Just watch below:
Jaron 'Boots' Ennis Slick DefenseFinisher
In an interview with Boxing News Ennis said:
“I love putting on a show and giving the fans a knockout at the end of the night…fans don’t want long fights. They want knockouts.”
Jaron Ennis on entertaining the fans
Now, this is a very good mentality to have early on, as Ennis has definitely adopted this killer-finisher attitude in his development stage as a fighter. This only in turn will help him when he starts to step up more in his career.
We have seen more recently in his fights with Dulorme and Lipinets, that he was more or less able to take them out with ease. With him only going 6 rounds to date it will be interesting to see if Ennis can keep this up as the opposition steps up.
But you can’t deny that this young fighter from Philly doesn’t want to take his opponent out of there, especially when you look at his record to date.
Final thoughts
Jaron Ennis in my opinion has all the potential in the world to dominate the welterweight division and become a top p4p fighter.
The only issue with Ennis right now is that he still has to fight the other top contenders or even the elite of boxing. Until that day comes, we will have to wait and see how his talent and skill set will hold up against a much better opponent. However, the fact he has kept continually consistent with fights will help him when the big opportunity arises.
For me, it is only a matter of time before we see Boots start to dominate boxing. But I would love to see the fights with either Errol Spence Jr, Terence Crawford, or Virgil Ortiz Jr eventually.
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