Jaron “Boots” Ennis has been turning heads for years now, and it even goes back to his gym work as a teenager with very limited experience.
As Ennis prepares for the biggest fight of his career against Xander Zayas on June 27, Tyrone McKenna recalled going to Ennis’ gym as a young pro and being set up to spar a 16-year-old Boots. McKenna says his initial instinct is that it was going to be easy, and that Boots’ father and trainer, Bozy Ennis, must have wanted his son beaten up a little for some reason.
The reality wound up very different.
“I was speaking to Bozy, he said, ‘Look, we have no one your weight, but you can spar my son,’” McKenna says. “He pointed at him and I said, ‘What age is he?’ He said, ‘He’s 16.’ I was 23 at the time, I said, ‘16?’
“I was, like, this guy wants his son beat up for some reason. He must be bad in the house because he wants him beat up. I said, ‘How many fights has he had?’ and he said, ‘He’s only had two amateur fights,’ and I went, fuck, this is insane. His dad’s putting him in with me, a 23-year-old pro boxer. And this kid’s only had two amateur fights?
“So I was, like, great, I’m going to beat this guy up. It’s going to be an easy, easy spar. Jumped in, and I swear to God, I could not hit this guy for the life of me. He absolutely destroyed me. … After that spar I started contemplating, should I even box anymore? This kid annihilated me, really.
“But after that I joined that gym, because I was, like, these guys obviously know what they’re doing, this kid’s unbelievable for sparring, and I sparred him for the next two years. And I said during the spars, I said, this guy is going to be one of the greats. He’s so good. He’s on a level — I’ve been in with world-class fighters, I’ve been in with world champions, I’ve fought world champions, and no one comes close to Boots.”
And while the now 36-year-old McKenna (25-6-1, 8 KO) did fall short of true world level as a pro, he is a good boxer. More than that, he was a much more mature, developed, 23-year-old pro when he sparred the 16-year-old Boots, who even with his boxing bloodline, really was just getting started in true competitive fashion.
Now 28, Ennis (35-0, 31 KO) has already won a world title at welterweight, and now faces Zayas (23-0, 13 KO) for Zayas’ WBA and WBO 154 lb titles. It will be Ennis’ second fight at 154 lbs and the biggest bout of his career to date.
