{"id":503327,"date":"2025-10-16T05:14:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T05:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/503327\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T05:14:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T05:14:13","slug":"if-jaron-ennis-wanted-to-fight-he-wouldnt-have-chosen-lima","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/503327\/","title":{"rendered":"If Jaron Ennis Wanted To Fight, He Wouldn\u2019t Have Chosen Lima"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bakhram Murtazaliev<\/a> heard Jaron Ennis<\/a> and Eddie Hearn mention him Saturday night as a potential opponent on his way to becoming undisputed junior middleweight champion.
Murtazaliev would gladly fight Ennis if the former Ring, IBF and WBA welterweight champ doesn\u2019t face rival Vergil Ortiz<\/a> next. The idle IBF junior middleweight champion is cynical, though, regarding the legitimacy of Ennis\u2019 interest in facing him.
Ennis\u2019 decision to fight overmatched Uisma Lima<\/a> in the Philadelphia native\u2019s division debut makes Murtazaliev doubt his intentions. DraftKings listed Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs) as a 30-1 favorite versus Angola\u2019s Lima (14-2, 10 KOs), who was knocked down twice and stopped a mere 1:58 into the opening round of their bout for the WBA “interim” junior middleweight title at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
\u201cIf Ennis wanted to fight me, he wouldn\u2019t have fought who he just fought,\u201d Murtazaliev told The Ring<\/a>. \u201cNo one knows who [Lima] was. But he would\u2019ve fought me if he wanted to fight, not [Lima].\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the IBF champion in a lower weight class and he moved up. I could\u2019ve fought him. If he wants to fight me or Ortiz, why pick [Lima]?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ennis, 28, is generally regarded as one of the most gifted, multidimensional boxers in the sport. He has been criticized, however circumstantial some choices of opponents might\u2019ve been, for facing lesser fighters than frustrated fans and skeptical experts want to see Ennis face.<\/p>\n

Murtazaliev, 32, is beyond frustrated because he hasn\u2019t fought in almost one year since he overwhelmed heavily favored former WBO champ Tim Tszyu<\/a> last October in Orlando, Florida. Tszyu (25-3, 18 KOs) was a 7-1 favorite, yet Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) sent him to the canvas four times and stopped him in the third round.<\/p>\n

Proposed fights with numerous championship-caliber opponents, including Ortiz, haven\u2019t materialized since Murtazaliev demolished Tszyu.<\/p>\n

The Russian-born champion could defend his title against England\u2019s Josh Kelly<\/a> next, but their teams haven\u2019t finalized a deal with the third-ranked Kelly (17-1-1, 9 KOs). The IBF scheduled a purse bid for Tuesday if their representatives can\u2019t come to an agreement before then.<\/p>\n

Ennis is ranked fifth by the IBF in the junior middleweight division. The top two spots in its top 15 are unoccupied, but Murtazaliev doesn\u2019t think it\u2019ll matter even if Ennis becomes his mandatory challenger.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody mentions me after they fight,\u201d Murtazaliev said. \u201c[Sebastian] Fundora did, too. But then, when it comes to business, everybody disappears.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ring junior middleweight title is vacant.<\/p>\n

Ortiz (23-0, 21 KOs) is ranked first among The Ring’s top 10 contenders at 154. Fundora (23-1-1, 15 KOs) is second and Murtazaliev is fourth. Fifth-ranked Erickson Lubin (27-2, 19 KOs) will challenge Ortiz<\/a> for his WBC interim super welterweight title November 8 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.<\/p>\n

Ennis entered our junior middleweight top 10 at No. 7 this week. Though a Ring champion prior to moving up seven pounds, the ratings panel determined Ennis shouldn\u2019t be higher than seventh due to the level of opponent he fought Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bakhram Murtazaliev heard Jaron Ennis and Eddie Hearn mention him Saturday night as a potential opponent on his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,10188,10181,10187,10186,10179,4496,10182,10183,10184,10185,10180,10193,10192,10175,10173,10174,10190,10176,10172,10194,10189,79,10191,10171,10178,16,15,10177],"class_list":{"0":"post-503327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-boxing-community","10":"tag-boxing-fights","11":"tag-boxing-history","12":"tag-boxing-interviews","13":"tag-boxing-magazine","14":"tag-boxing-news","15":"tag-boxing-photos","16":"tag-boxing-rankings","17":"tag-boxing-results","18":"tag-boxing-schedule","19":"tag-boxing-videos","20":"tag-disqualification","21":"tag-draw","22":"tag-fight","23":"tag-fighter","24":"tag-fighter-news","25":"tag-knockout","26":"tag-latest-boxing-matches","27":"tag-ring","28":"tag-ring-magazine","29":"tag-split-decision","30":"tag-sports","31":"tag-technical-knockout","32":"tag-the-ring","33":"tag-top-fighters","34":"tag-uk","35":"tag-united-kingdom","36":"tag-upcoming-boxing-matches"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115382141926372772","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}