Jaron Ennis unifies welterweight titles with sixth-round stoppage of Eimantas Stanionis

Jaron "Boots" Ennis is now a unified champion. Ennis entered Saturday's fight with Eimantas Stanionis as IBF champion and took the WBA belt from Stanionis' waist when the fight was stopped in the corner after the conclusion of the sixth round.

Ennis had abandoned his jab for much of his previous fight, a November decision win over Karen Chukhadzhian, but that was a solid part of his gameplan against Stanionis from the opening moments of the first round. It was clear that Ennis had a distinct advantage in both power and hand speed. To his credit, Stanionis lived up to his end of the deal for much of the fight, finding space to land clean power punches, often as counters to Ennis' attack. Ennis was winning rounds, but Stanionis made him work for every inch for much of the fight. Ennis' power and speed finally caught up to Stanionis in a big way in the sixth round when a flurry of uppercuts knocked Stanionis to his knee for a knockdown. Stanionis was able to get back to his feet and battle his way through Ennis' blitz for the remainder of the round but his corner halted the bout between rounds for an official stoppage time of 3:00 of Round 6.

Ennis' win over Chukhadzhian in a rematch that no one in the boxing world outside of Chukhadzhian's team was excited to see, was met with some criticism for Ennis' lackluster showing against an opponent whose awkward style made for a strange fight. After this fight, Ennis credited his showing to having a willing opponent in front of him.

"The biggest part was just being myself and having a live body in front of me," Ennis said. "When I have a live body in front of me, you see what happens." Ennis had become IBF champion when he was elevated from interim champion after Terence Crawford moved to the junior middleweight division. He said adding the WBA title felt much better than waking up in the morning and finding out he'd been promoted to world champion.

The big question remains what is next for Ennis, one of the most talented fighters in the sport. The biggest fights available are up a division in the stacked junior middleweight division, but he now holds half of the belts on his way to becoming undisputed welterweight champion.

"I'm going to enjoy my victory and these belts, take some time with the family, talk to my coaches and see what's next," Ennis said about whether he chases undisputed status or moves up for bigger fights. "We'll see. Let me enjoy this victory."