Ennis v Abreu Recap
At the conclusion of six rounds of one-sided action, rising welterweight boxer Jaron “Boots” Ennis (26-0, 24 KO’s) defeated Juan Carlos “Merengue” Abreu (23-6-1, 21 KO’s) by way of stoppage victory. The fight was briefly cast into doubt when Abreu missed weight. He came in three pounds heavy on the welterweight limit.
Thankfully for fight fans, after failing to make weigh in two attempts, both camps adjusted the official weight so that the fight could take place. Despite his five losses coming into the bout, Abreu was being touted as Ennis’ toughest in-ring challenge to date. Once in the ring, his supposed learning curve never became a factor. In fact, it was Ennis who made good on his goal to be the first to stop Abreu within the distance.
DESTRUCTION IN SIX
Prior to the prizefight, Abreu made known his intention to drag Ennis into the deep waters and drown him. In hindsight, this was somewhat a poor game plan. For the first two rounds, Abreu did little other than follow Ennis around and smile while eating consistent jabs and body shots.
For the first thirty seconds of the third period, Abreu picked up the pace and attempted to land more hurtful punches. Unfortunately for him, his pressure was both less-than-effective and short lived. By the conclusion of the first minute of action, the switch-hitting Philly fighter was clearly back in the driver seat.
With the coming of the fifth round, the prizefight quickly became more grueling and physical. Abreu was continuing to apply more pressure but was still obviously not winning rounds. After Boots landed a hard shot on his beltline, frustration drove the Dominican to nail Ennis with an extremely low blow. The illegal punch was damaging enough to briefly halt the action while he recovered.
Shortly after the action resumed, Ennis laid Abreu flat on his back with a picture perfect counter-uppercut. The punch was all the more impressive because he landed it while moving backwards. Despite being clearly hurt, Abreu made it to his feet well before the count and was game to continue. In fact, the two men almost got into a scuffle going back to their corner well after the bell sounded to conclude the period.
The end would come quickly in the sixth. Sensing his foe had not yet fully recovered, Ennis jumped back on his elder opponent and put him down with a crisp right-hand to the temple. Like he did in the fifth, Abreu made it to his feet looking to jump back in the fire. However, mere moments after allowing the action to resume, Abreu went down a third time. Referee Johnny Callus waived the bout off to give Ennis the win.
By: Bakari Simpson
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