ATLANTIC CITY – Derek “Bozy” Ennis believes that his son Jaron is a more focused fighter on the eve of his contest with Eimantas Stanionis, and not just because of the threat the Lithuanian can pose.

“Boots” Ennis and Stanionis will on Saturday fight for the IBF, WBA and Ring Magazine titles at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, in a unification showdown that is not only the most significant of Ennis’ promising career, but against an opponent who represents his greatest test.

If following the far-from-sought-after rematch with Ukraine’s Karen Chukhadzhian that Ennis was keen to avoid he is relishing the challenge of adding the WBA title to that he already has from the IBF, his father and trainer also considers him to be benefitting from not having the distractions of their home city.

When the 27-year-old Ennis agreed promotional terms with Matchroom, he was tempted in part by their plans to build him as an attraction in Philadelphia, but successive fights there – he convincingly won both – provided a separate challenge that Ennis Snr is keen to avoid for the remainder of 2025.

That Atlantic City – where Ennis Jnr has stayed since Tuesday – is so close to Philadelphia means that he can again expect significant local support, but “Bozy” Ennis told BoxingScene: “I like him fighting away, like here, or New York, or something like that. Instead of in Philly, ‘cause there’s a lot of people that he know, and all that stuff, and then the crowd – that takes a lot outta you. 

“It takes a lot away from you, too, when you’re in there listening and somebody’s howling out, ‘Boots!’, you know what I mean? I don’t like that type of attention sometimes.

“I don’t think [we’ll be back] this year at all. Probably sometime down the line, but [until then] we’ll probably stay away from there. It all depends. He wouldn’t say that though. He loves fighting in Philly, and Atlantic City.

“You can see he’s more of an attraction – when we first fought in [Philadelphia’s] Wells Fargo we almost sold the whole place out. Second time was a little less ‘cause they had some type of game down there – football, baseball. But he still went over 11,000 then. Boots is a draw anyway because they like to see him ‘cause he fights. He’ll fight you. He can box, and he’ll fight. That’s what people come to see.

“We already recognised all over the city. You gon’ see, when the people come out.”

Both father and son betray considerable confidence in his chances of winning on Saturday, and Ennis Snr, who has already suggested that those around the 30-year-old Stanionis became convinced by the prospect of fighting his son when his son underperformed in November’s rematch with Chukhadzhian, said: “You could see the mood that he was in. We didn’t really want to fight him, so [the IBF] said, ‘If you don’t fight him, we’ll strip you of the belt’. Only certain people they do that to. 

“So we took the fight, and you could see, when he fought him, that wasn’t the ‘Boots’ that you seen fighting before. He won the fight, dropped him and everything, but he was lackadaisical in there; getting hit with unnecessary shots. He found out the guy couldn’t hurt him, so that’s why he did what he did.

“That’s what you wanna see – you gonna see that now, because this guy is what we wanted. We’ve been wanting him for a while back. I don’t think it was him – I think it was his people that didn’t want the fight at the time. But Stanionis is a fighter, so I knew he wanted the fight. 

“[Boots] was good last time in training, but you could see on his mind that he really didn’t want to fight that guy. He was good, but you could still see – I know my son. ‘Man, I gotta fight this guy?’ – I’m reading his mind. ‘I shut him out the first time.’

“He’s great [ahead of fighting Stanionis]. In good shape – everything. He gonna be great, and Stanionis – I think he’s the guy who can bring the best out of Boots. Stanionis is a good fighter that might bring it out of him. I can’t say nothing bad about Stanionis.

“I don’t think it’s his most dangerous fight. We wouldn’t have no problem with none of them guys in the 147lbs division.

“Stanionis is a good fighter, man. He’s a real good fighter. Can’t take nothing away from him. I’m not the type of trainer to say, ‘He’s this; he’s that’. These guys are good fighters. This will be a good test. He might be able to take Boots to another level. If Boots goes to another level you gonna see something else. Nobody never took Boots to another level yet.

“He lets his hands go, and he stays busy. That’s his strengths right there. Probably his defence [is his weakness], but he keeps his hands up high.

“Boots is beating him – probably [winning] in the later rounds.”