IBF welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) will face WBA champion Eimantas Stanionis (15-0, 9 KOs) in a two-fight unification bout at 147 on April 12, live on DAZN from Boardwalk Hall (Atlantic City, New Jersey).

This is the unification bout that Ennis, 27, has been craving since he was promoted to IBF welterweight champion in November 2023. Potts needs an impressive showing in this fight, as he has looked average in his last four fights against Karen Choukhodjian × 2 and David Avanesian and Roiman Vila.

You could say this is Potts’ first test, but after his last fight against Chokhadjian, it’s hard to imagine a tougher bout for him than this one. He made Karen look like a mini-Artur Beterbiev with the way he was absorbing punishment from the Ukrainian fighter in their rematch at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on November 9.

If Stanionis is a better fighter than Karen, Jaron could lose this fight on April 12 and make Eddie Hearn regret signing him.

Ennis’ decision to turn down a bigger payday in a fight that would have turned him into a debut against interim WBC junior middleweight champion Virgil Ortiz Jr. on next month’s Riyadh season card on February 22, makes it all the more important that he shines against Stanionis.

Boxing fans believe Potts is a fighter who lacks ambition and self-confidence after being tutored twice by Choukhodjian.

Stanionis is coming off a 12-round unanimous decision over Gabriel Meister on May 4 of last year. He looked better in that fight than Ennis has in any of his last four contests.

“It’s simply a fantastic fight,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. “When we signed Potts, I told him we were going to offer him a unification, so it’s great to get through this for Jaron, and I know that with the biggest fight of his career ahead of him, he’s going to shine brighter than ever. Imantas is a brilliant fighter, and that’s no Doubt is No. 1 and No. 2 in the department.