Jaron Ennis remained undefeated with an emphatic 6th round stoppage over Sergey Lipinets in a welterweight bout at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Round three, Ennis dropped Lipinets with an uppercut. In round six, Ennis rocked Lipinets with a right hook that was followed by a hard left that put Lipinets flat on his back and the fight was stopped at 2:11
Ennis, 146.4 lbs of Philadelphia is 27-0 with 25 knockouts. Lipinets, 146.8 lbs of Russia is 16-2.
Jaron Ennis
“Most definitely I think I graduated tonight. It’s on the up and up now. It’s onto bigger and better fights now.
“That’s what we work on in the gym, a lot of power shots, just having fun and doing my thing.
“I’m comfortable on both sides (righty or lefty). It’s natural for me and I don’t know when I switch. Everything is all natural. That’s about it.
“I saw that he wasn’t really as good on the inside as me and that’s why I started getting a little closer and I started touching and looking for my big shot, and I found it.
Do you think it will be hard to get a fight now?
“No, I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe one of those guys will give me a fight and will want to fight me. We’ll see.
Where can you improve?
“Just staying more relaxed, and I did that tonight. I’m going to keep working on being calm and composed. Jabbing more and get out of the way.”
“I’ll always be hard on myself when I look back at my performance. My goal is to keep getting better, sharper, faster and stronger so I can become world champion.
“As long as I keep fighting top guys, I’m happy. I feel like I will be world champion by the end of this year or beginning of next year. Patience is the key though.
“I saw I was breaking him down, so I started walking toward him and getting closer. He wasn’t fighting as well on the inside as I was. Eventually, I caught him with a big hook, then the uppercut and that was it.
“I don’t think it was my hardest fight. I was in there having fun and doing what I wanted. I don’t take anything away from Lipinets, because he’s a great fighter, but I was just doing me, being relaxed and putting on a show.
“Hopefully the other top welterweight fighters want to take me on. I want to elevate my career and go down in history as a Hall of Famer.
“Lipinets has been in there with the best before, so I wasn’t surprised he held up for a while. I knew he’d be durable. That’s why I didn’t jump on the gas right away. I just took my time and broke him down.
“I might have to become a mandatory to get the title fight. Until then, I’m going to keep working to fight the best fighters available to me.
“I saw he was getting frustrated and I was breaking him down mentally and physically. I’m not like those others guys he fought, I can do it all. I can fight inside and out.
“I knew the knockout was coming. I just kept listening to my corner and my dad kept telling me to take my time. I knew eventually it would come and it did.
“I definitely feel like I’m getting stronger fight by fight. I was getting stronger as the fight went on round by round. I would have had that power in the 12th round if we had gotten there.”
Stanionis decisions Dulorme
Eimantas Stanionis won a 12-round unanimous decision over Thomas Dulorme in a welterweight bout.
Stanionis landed 232 of 613 punches; Dulorme was 193 of 765.
Stanonis, 147 lbs of Lithuania won by scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113 and is now 13-0. Dulorme, 146.4 lbs is 26-51.
Eimantas Stanionis
“I said before my fight I wanted to test myself against the top welterweights in the division. In my country [Lithuania] this is the first time they are showing my fight on television live so everybody is very excited and everybody is watching. It was big, big pressure. I’m very grateful for this opportunity.
“I want to test every time I step into the ring what kind of level I can achieve, you know. With what kind of fighters that I can compete.
“I think I am top 10 [in my division]. It’s my opinion. I need experience. I think I can hang with top guys. I’ve been sparring with world champions and I did very well so I’m confident I can beat anybody in the welterweight division. Of course, I need experience. I’ve only got like 15 pro fights.”
“It’s been a dream since I was a kid watching SHOWTIME to be on this stage. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved. I’ve had a long hard journey to get here, but it’s been worth it.
“Dulorme was a little bit awkward. It was hard to throw my right hand because he was catching me on the body. I couldn’t hit as hard as I wanted to because of hand injuries. I felt my hands hurt a few times when I was hitting him, but it should be okay.
“He was quicker and more explosive than I thought he’d be. On video he does not look as explosive. He was a smart fighter and he used a lot of good movement. You can’t take anything away from him. He’s a warrior.
“Everything was on point in training camp. Me and Marvin Somodio make a great team, we click very well and I think we have even more to look forward to in the future.
“Dulorme always threw back at me, even if I hurt him. I knew that if I was wild, he could have caught me with a good shot. I have more confidence in myself now because I know I can go 12 rounds with a good fighter. I know how the pressure will hit me now. Anything can happen in this sport, so I made sure I was prepared coming into this fight.”
Ancajas defends IBF Junior Bantamweight Title with decision over Rodriguez
Jerwin Ancajas defended his IBF Junior Bantamweight title for the 9th time with a hard fought 12-round unanious decision over Jonathan Rodriguez.
In round eight, Ancajas landed a hard flurry in the corner that was followed up by a left that put Rodriguez on the canvas. The two stood in the pocket and landed hard power shots throughout the contest, with Ancajas seemingly landing the harder shots with Rodriguez landing flashy and flush combinations.
Ancajas landed 232 of 758 punches; Rodriguez was 273 of 826.
Ancajas, 1148 lbs of the Philippines won by scores of 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112 to raise his record to 33-1-2. Rodriguez, 115 lbs of Mexico is 21-2.
Jerwin Ancajas
“We made a lot of sacrifices for this defense. This fight was very hard for me. I was happy to get the knock down because Rodriguez is tough, but I have strong boxing. This was my toughest world title defense. For me, I will wait for the plan of my coaches and promoter and hope to get a chance for a unification fight.”
“I’m very happy to get the win. I waited a long time for the opportunity to get back in the ring and it’s exciting to win in my first fight on this stage fighting on SHOWTIME. It’s a big win for my whole team.
“This was my toughest fight so far. It was the hardest of any of my nine defenses and it’s exciting that it was on a big card. I trained hard for this opportunity and it feels great to get the win.
“I thought he was going to be stopped because I saw him look at his corner and it didn’t look like he wanted to go on. But he got up and fought and I respect him for doing that.
“This was a good experience for me and I thank for Jonathan for bringing the fight. He’s also going to get better from the experience tonight.
“I want to fight all of the other champions in this division. Estrada, Chocolatito and all of the big names. I proved again that I’m a real champion and I deserve to be on the level with the rest of the champions.”
Jonathan Rodriguez
“I don’t think it was a just decision. I thought maybe a split decision, and I would accept it a little more. But we knew coming in that the judges were against us in this fight.
“I did have to recuperate (after the eighth-round knockdown). He hit me with a good shot, and I got knocked down.
“No, no, no. I was definitely motivated to keep fighting. I wasn’t going to quit. But I knew I had to keep fighting in this heroic fight. Now, people know I’m a great rival here and anybody who wants to fight me, I will be ready to fight them. And they saw today what I can do in the ring.”