Jaron Ennis’ multi-fight promotional deal with Matchroom stood boxing on notice this week, with his hotly anticipated ring return set to take place a year on from his last outing. 

Rarely does a fighter’s potential have the boxing fraternity in agreement, but such is the ability of the 26-year-old American that he is already being spoken about amongst the elite. 

He is yet to record anything of substance on his 31-fight CV, but that will no doubt no change as he and Eddie Hearn plan a rapid assault on the 147lb scene, before moving up to attempt to crack the Crawford code. 

The IBF title holder will, however, have to deal with mandatory challenger Cody Crowley before he lays his eyes elsewhere. Purse bids for that fight are scheduled for April 23rd. 

A penny for Conor Benn’s thoughts, after his long-time promoter proclaimed Ennis’ journey at welterweight will be akin to a walk in the park. 

From a walk in the park to a walk on the coast, as Tyson Fury treated the media to one final round of repetition before the official fight week festivities begin in just over five weeks. 

The Tyson tick list contained all the classics, as Anthony Joshua was called a sausage, and Oleksandr Usyk told he could be beaten off the back of 15 pints of Peroni. Standard. 

One thing Fury did reiterate was that he wants a win over Usyk to be met with respect. 

“Please don’t say Usyk’s s*** after I beat him”, Fury pleaded. 

A pretty fair comment, but also a slightly self-conflicting one when you consider Fury has been lauding his Ukrainian friend a useless middleweight for the best part of two years. 

I think we all know that Fury won’t be taking this one lightly. 

Two men who must adopt the same attitude are Jordan Gill and Zelfa Barrett, as the pair ready themselves to headline Manchester’s AO Arena in a must-win featherweight clash this Saturday. 

‘Must-win’ sounds extreme, I know, especially considering Gill’s two defeats to both an unsuspecting Mexican and a battle-worn Kiko Martinez have done his no career harm. 

However, boxing can only reproduce opportunities a certain number of times. 

Gill is yet to even fight at world level, and so defeat number three would no doubt draw the curtain on his world title dream. The same can be said for Barrett, albeit via a different path. 

The Manchester-born former European champion has taken one venture into world level waters but walked away with a second career defeat and an extremely painful leg injury. 

Neither man can let this next opportunity slip, and that is why their meeting could wind up as one of the year’s most entertaining. If it doesn’t, then you know exactly where to look. 

Good luck to two of British boxing’s real gentlemen. 

Oscar Bevis

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