7. Jaron Ennis (36-0, 32 KOs)
Jaron “Boots” Ennis hails from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was born on June 26th, 1997. He comes from a family of fighters as his older brothers Derek “Pooh” Ennis and Farah Ennis both were professional boxers. In 2014, Boots was the silver medalist in the National Golden Gloves competition and in the following year he won the gold medal. Months after his last bout in the amateurs he made his pro debut in Utah against Cory Muldrew.
Ennis had eight fights in his first year as a pro, winning all but one by knockout. In the following year he stepped in the ring nine times that included four bouts in his hometown. On July 20th, 2018 Ennis won the WBC USA silver welterweight title with a knockout victory over Armando Alvarez to put him in the division’s rankings.
Ennis became a serious contender in the welterweight division with a knockout over Sergey Lipinets in 2021. After defeating Thomas Dulorme six months later in Las Vegas, Ennis went on to face Custio Clayton in Carson California for the top contender position in the IBF rankings. Ennis won by second round knockout to get that spot, and waited for a world title opportunity. Although that did not come to fruition, Ennis did win the IBF interim title over Karen Chukhadzhian in Washington DC on January 7th 2023.
He defended that title in Atlantic City six months later against Roiman Villa, getting a knockout in the tenth round. Ennis did not fight again until a year later in Philadelphia as the IBF champion against David Avanesyan. It took five rounds for Ennis to defeat Avanesyan for the first defense of that title, then took on Chukhadzhian in a rematch in November of last year. He won that bout by unanimous decision.
In 2025, Ennis unified the IBF and WBA welterweight titles with a victory over Eimantas Stanionis in Atlantic City. Months later, he moved up to the super welterweight division and knocked out Uisma Lima to put himself in position to fight for a world title. That opportunity took place on June 27th 2026 against Xander Zayas at the Barclays Center, and Ennis won by technical knockout to become the WBA and WBO champion at super welterweight. “Boots” has now won multiple titles in two weight classes and is aiming to be the undisputed champion at 154.
