PHILADELPHIA  — Jaron “Boots” Ennis will return to the ring in his first IBF welterweight title defense in a promised hometown bout against Canadian southpaw Cody Crowley on July 13 at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center, The Ring has learned.

Ennis (31-0, 28 knockouts) is The Ring’s No. 2 welterweight contender and de facto No. 1, considering Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr., who are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, will be soon moving to 154. Crowley (22-0, 9 KOs) is the IBF mandatory.

The Ring has learned the contract has yet to be signed.

“I can’t wait to show out and put on a beautiful, dominating, crushing performance in front of my family, friends and supporters while defending and retaining my IBF world title in spectacular fashion,” Ennis said. “I’m ready to step on any and everybody that’s in my way.”

As reported by The Ring’s Jake Donovan, Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing outbid TGB Promotions to gain promotional rights to the ordered IBF welterweight title fight. Matchroom, Ennis’ promoter, posted a $3,910,000 offer on the April 23 purse bid hearing. The amount nearly doubled the $2,000,000 submission by TGB, who represented Crowley during the drawn-out negotiation period.

IBF purse bid rule 10.E. (Disbursement of Bid Proceeds) states that the split is 85/15 for a fight between champion and any challenger rated No. 3 or lower. Ennis is due $3,323,500 as a result. Crowley is entitled to the remaining $586,500 as the IBF No. 3-rated contender.

Last September, Crowley was offered $500,000 to fight Ennis, multiple sources confirmed to The Ring, on the Showtime David Benavidez-Demetrius Andrade PPV on November 25, 2023, in Las Vegas.

It was a career-best offer for the Canadian southpaw. Crowley wanted more. That offer kept going up, verbally north of $650,000. Crowley tried pushing it to the range of $750,000. Without getting an answer on that offer, he wanted even more, multiple sources confirmed, at $1 million. That was flat out rejected. Crowley was the B-side against Boots, and the $650,000 offer was more than double for any of Ennis’ previous opponents.

If he lost to Boots, Crowley was even offered a comeback by PBC for a reasonable price, multiple sources confirmed, and it turned into more waiting.

Team Ennis got tired of waiting for Crowley.

On Wednesday, April 10, Hearn announced that Matchroom had signed the talented Ennis to a multi-fight deal. One of Hearn’s promises to Ennis, who was elevated from interim to full IBF titlist last November 28 when Crawford vacated the title, was a title defense in his hometown of Philadelphia.

In truth, behind the scenes, Hearn and Team Ennis were hoping to bypass Crowley and, in what would have been a brilliant move, set up Ennis’ first IBF title defense against Matchroom’s Conor Benn (23-0, 14 KOs) in Philadelphia.

It is a move that made sense, considering Benn’s suspension by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) when he tested positive twice for the female fertility drug clomifene in the build-up for Matchroom’s October 2022 catchweight clash with British rival Chris Eubank Jr. The National Anti-Doping Panel, which is independent of the BBBofC, lifted Benn’s provisional suspension, which has allowed Benn to fight in the United States, where his last two fights have been.

An Ennis-Benn fight would have had tread in Philadelphia, which is no longer a vibrant fight town or even a “sports town,” as much as it is an “Eagles’” town. But Ennis-Benn had some cachet to it, and was enough to possibly fill a venue like Temple University’s 10,206-seat Liacouras Center (with considerable Brit support), though not large enough to fill the 21,000-seat capacity Wells Fargo Center, where the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers play.

The last significant title fight in Philadelphia, involving a hometown fighter, came on March 29, 2003, when Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins made his 16th middleweight title defense against unknown WBC mandatory challenger Morrade Hakkar of France. The fight occurred at the defunct Philadelphia Spectrum, since torn down and the space where it stood now a parking lot to the Wells Fargo Center.

The fight was also a promotional disaster. The cavernous Spectrum, which held a 19,456 capacity, was almost empty with a few thousand fans. Hopkins won when Hakkar failed to answer the bell for the ninth round. The fight was remembered more for Hakkar’s running than the fight itself. The crowd booed. Even the round card girls were booed.

Crowley may not be much better than the running Frenchman. Crowley had been holding out for more money and will now finally face Ennis, after turning down $650,000.

The last title fight in Philadelphia was IBF/WBA Julian “J-Rock” Williams’ junior middleweight fifth-round title upset loss to Jeison Rosario on January 16, 2020, at the Liacouras Center. That, too, played before a sparse crowd.

Still, Hearn feels he can sell an Ennis-Crowley fight in Philadelphia. What also looms right behind it is the popular, mainstream now-sanctioned fight between boxing impresario Jake Paul and the legendary Mike Tyson on July 20 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

“I am thrilled to be able to deliver a homecoming defense for Boots,” Hearn said. “Jaron is the next American star in boxing, and sports stars with all the tools he has should be headlining in their own city.

“This is just the beginning for Jaron in Philadelphia, a town that absolutely loves their sport, and in Jaron they can boast that their hometown hero is the best in the business. July 13 is going to be a massive night — we can’t wait to come back to Philadelphia for the first of many epic nights with Boots.”

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been working for Ring Magazine/RingTV.com since October 1997 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Follow @JSantoliquito

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