Eddie Hearn Puts Jaron Ennis in the Same Breath as Leonard and Hearns

Eddie Hearn isn't hedging. The Matchroom boss told The Punch Podcast that Jaron 'Boots' Ennis is the pound-for-pound number one in boxing right now, and he compared the two-weight champion to Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Pernell Whitaker and Terence Crawford. That's rarefied company — Hearns and Leonard both became five-division world champions within three days of each other back in 1988, and Crawford sits at 42-0 after outpointing Canelo Álvarez.

The praise lands off Ennis's most complete statement yet. The WBA and WBO super-welterweight titleholder stopped Xander Zayas inside seven rounds, dropping the previously unbeaten #3 contender to 23-1 and pushing his own ledger to 36-0 with 32 knockouts. That's an 89 percent finish rate — the kind of number that makes the Leonard-and-Hearns talk feel less like promoter noise and more like a genuine argument.

Why Hearn Is All-In

Hearn has been banging this drum for a while, and his logic is built around style. Ennis gets criticised for taking shots, but Hearn's point is that he chooses to fight that way. Boots could bore you for twelve rounds if he wanted, Hearn argued, but he'd rather be one of the most exciting fighters on the planet. The Zayas performance, in Hearn's telling, was simply the proof.

It's a bold bracket to put a super-welterweight in. Whitaker and Leonard are all-time defensive and all-round masters; Hearns was a wrecking ball across five divisions. Ennis has neither their longevity nor their signature rivalries yet. What he does have is a spotless record and a habit of removing opponents from the equation before the judges get involved.

The Undisputed Play

The résumé-building isn't done. Ennis is now chasing the undisputed super-welterweight throne, and the missing piece is IBF champion Josh Kelly, who's expected to meet him in December or early 2027. Kelly sits at 18-1-1 (9 KO) and arrives on his own high, having just edged Bakhram Murtazaliev on a majority decision.

The stylistic gap is stark. Kelly is a slick technician with single-digit knockouts across nearly 20 fights; Ennis stops nine of every ten men he beats. Win that one and Boots holds all the belts at 154 — at which point the Leonard-Hearns comparisons stop being Eddie Hearn's opinion and start becoming a conversation worth having.