Unified junior middleweight champion Jaron Ennis believes he will not be fully appreciated by critics until his career is over. He argues his dominant victories are consistently downplayed, but now uses the persistent criticism as motivation for his undisputed title campaign.
Ennis, an unbeaten two-weight world champion from Philadelphia, has grown accustomed to his wins being followed by questions about the quality of his opposition. He has now chosen to view the dynamic as a validation of his own high standards. “I just take it as a compliment at this point because that shows the world understand how great I am, and I just got to keep living up to their standard, which I’m going to keep doing,” Ennis said. He remains convinced that true recognition is a long way off. “I feel like they’re not going to appreciate me until I retire.”
The champion points to his in-ring versatility as proof of his elite skill, suggesting he can adapt his approach to any opponent or situation. This ability to shift styles, from technical boxing to aggressive brawling, often makes formidable opponents look ordinary. “I always say I feel like my style different from everybody. I really do whatever I want,” Ennis explained. “Every fight I give you something different. My last fight I gave you some dog fight. I could have made it easy and box and move. The fight before that I got a first-round knockout. The fight before that I was boxing and moving and slipping. I give you whatever you want.”
Despite his impressive record, Ennis feels a predictable pattern emerges after each fight where his performance is minimized. He is now driven by what he perceives as a constant effort to diminish his accomplishments. “I feel like the world knows that. They downplay anybody that I fight. I can go knock out the Hulk, and they be like, ‘You supposed to do that.’ It’s crazy,” he stated. “It don’t matter what I do. They just try to downplay anything I do. But at the end of the day, I love it. It drives me and makes me get better each and every day. I’m going to continue to keep growing. Like I said, they’re not going to appreciate me until I retire.”
Following his recent victory over Xander Zayas to unify the WBA and WBO 154-lb titles, Ennis has made his immediate goal clear. He is targeting the remaining belts to become the undisputed junior middleweight champion before eventually moving up to a higher weight class to pursue further titles.
