Boots Ennis stops David Avanesyan in five in Philly homecoming

PHILADELPHIA — The kid was a nuisance. He could never leave his older brothers, Derek and Farah, alone. Where they went, he went. What they did, he did. He was a chubby-legged baby in diapers able to throw a left hook at a heavy bag.

He was also, it seemed, the promised child. A decade later, Jaron “Boots” Ennis would be the one to capture the imagination of the boxing world  and complete the journey his brothers started.

Boots’ coronation came Saturday night. It just took a little time to arrive. He had more entanglements outside the ring than he did inside it, with managerial issues and promotional deals to sort out.

When his time came, the lights dimmed in his hometown and Ennis filled 14,119 seats in the 21,000-seat Wells Fargo Center in making his first IBF welterweight title defense. The 14,119 figure is the highest attendance for a Philly indoor fight since all-time great Marvin Hagler beat Bennie Briscoe by 10-round decision on August 24, 1978, at the defunct Philadelphia Spectrum (14,930).

Coming off a year layoff, Ennis held up his end by stopping the very tough David Avanesyan in the fifth round.

“I felt a little off,” Ennis admitted. “My timing was a little off. I didn’t think my timing would be off.”

Within the first few seconds, Boots wobbled Avanesyan with a jab. One thing was clear: Ennis (32-0, 29 knockouts) was far larger than Avanesyan. Within the first 90 seconds, Boots plowed Avanesyan (30-5-1, 18 KOs) with a digging right to the body. His length had Avanesyan swinging at air.

With about a minute left in the first, an Ennis right uppercut caught Avanesyan below the belt. Avanesyan went down on his knees in obvious discomfort, trying to pull his waist band loose to ease the tension below.

Avanesyan seemed intent to use each second of the five minutes allotted to recover. Boots went back to business, with a crisp jab that pierced Avanesyan’s high guard, mixed with rights to the body.

In the second, Ennis kept popping the jab and overpowering the smaller Avanesyan. Then it was target practice, pounding Avanesyan with thudding body shots and lefts to the head. Avanesyan was obviously trying to muck it up, and Boots was willing to trade with him.

Against a better fighter, Ennis may have been in some trouble the way Avanesyan was able to get to him.

In the third, an Ennis left to the body brought Avanesyan’s arms down. And again, it turned into easy work for Ennis, who chopped at Avanesyan’s head and body with short, blunt punches.

Avanesyan could do little to keep Ennis off of him.

In the last 20 seconds of the third, Ennis closed by landing a double right uppercut, followed by a right to the body. Anything Boots wanted to do, he did.

Avanesyan had one moment in the early seconds of the fourth, when he rattled off a combination on Ennis against the ropes. Then it was Boots again, turning Avanesyan’s body red with punishing uppercuts and left hooks.

There were still moments when Ennis got hit when he should not have. Avanesyan’s face began to redden like his body was.

In the fifth, Avanesyan tagged Ennis with a right uppercut, and then later a left hook that caught Boots squarely on the chin. Avanesyan had him backed against the ropes and was having a great round when Boots landed a counter overhand left that caught Avanesyan on the right temple and sent him down.

Avanesyan showed great courage in staying in.

Referee Eric Dali wisely ended it on the advice of the ringside physician after the fifth.

In the co-feature, in a 10-round welterweight fight, Jalil Major Hackett remained undefeated, going 10 rounds for the first time, beating tough, semi-competitive Peter Dobson by unanimous decision.

Hackett (9-0, 7 KOs) was never in trouble and never had Dobson (16-2, 9 KOs) in trouble. But Hackett controlled the fight from start to finish, winning by scores of 97-93 (twice) and 96-94.

There was a lot of overt friction between the two during the pre-fight press conference, when Hackett shoved Dobson during the staredown.

That was settled in the ring.

At the outset, Hackett was the aggressor, alternately tagging Dobson and using feints to make him cover up. Hackett controlled the pace, and the early portion of the first was fought at a distance beneficial to him.

Hackett worked levels well, although Dobson did get one good crack in, nailing Hackett with a left hook in the last minute of the first.

The second began the way the first went—Hackett coming forward, working well behind the jab and working levels, firing the jab up and sneaking a lead left into the body. Dobson tried timing him, and again he would connect, though inconsistently. His left hook seemed to be particularly effective. Hackett sometimes had problems seeing it.

After two, Hackett seemed to be in a comfort zone.

In the third, Dobson tried to be more active. He landed some body shots and showed that he was willing to make this a competitive fight.

In the fourth, a Hackett right hand followed by a double left hook had Dobson in some trouble. A left-right combo snapped Dobson’s head back, and it appeared that the 21-year-old from Washington, D.C., was looking to close the show.

Dobson was in full retreat in the fifth. His corner was urging him to get into the middle of the ring, knowing if Hackett had him cornered, it would be over. A small hematoma began to form on the left side of Dobson’s forehead, a baby Hasim Rahman lump looking to grow.

Dobson courageously hung in. But as the rounds progressed, his defenses were diminishing and his hand speed evaporated into slow-motion punches.

Between the sixth and seventh rounds, referee Harvey Dock was looking in at Dobson’s corner as his team attended to him.

Now presented with a target, Hackett went after the left side of Dobson’s head. Dobson was too drained to counter.

By the eighth, Hackett, too, had slowed. It is the first time Hackett went over four rounds in his career. He had enough left to tap Dobson at will, feeling little at risk.

Dobson had Hackett right where he wanted him, in the middle of the ring, and he was so lethargic that he could not mount an offense.

It became a matter of survival for both—Hackett riding out the victory and Dobson trying not to get stopped.

In a scheduled 10-round junior lightweight fight, Christopher Diaz (29-4, 19 KOs) stopped Derlyn Hernandez-Gerarldo (12-2-1, 10 KOs) at 2:36 of the second round.

Featherweight Christian Carto (23-1, 16 KOs) beat Carlos Buitrago by third-round stoppage of a scheduled eight-rounder.

In the third round, Carto knocked Buitrago (38-14-1, 22 KOs) down with a left hook. He ended the round with a barrage of shots against what appeared to be a defenseless Buitrago. Referee Harvey Dock took a close look. Buitrago’s corner noticed. They stopped it after the third.

In a scheduled six-round junior welterweight bout, hometown southpaw Ismail “The Chef” Muhammad won a unanimous decision over Frank Brown. Muhammad (5-0, 3 KOs) took a surprising first-round knockdown from a Brown right hand. It was the first time Muhammad had been knocked down as a pro. In the fourth, Muhammad got Brown (3-5-2, 1 KO) back, knocking him down with a right.

In the fifth, Brown was more content clowning than fighting. He wiggled his shoulders. He implored the ref to do something when he got smacked in the face. Between rounds, he was playing with the crowd. He was fun to watch, but he still lost by scores of 58-54 (2), 57-55.

Bantamweight Dennis “Quiet Storm” Thompson opened making his pro debut with a four-round unanimous decision over Fernando Joaquin Valdez (1-8). Valdez did not make it easy. He pushed Thompson, who won by 40-36 unanimous scores.

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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