Chris Algieri is a former world champion from the US who knows his stuff as analyst. He has called this right about Ennis below.
Algieri was a world champion at 140 pounds and fought great names over the years like Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan, Errol Spence and Conor Benn.
He is retired for a bit now but is a shrewd enough analyst in the sport at times.
Algieri’s last fight was in 2021 in a loss to Conor Benn by KO but still keeps up with the big fights.
He was complimentary to Jaron Ennis at the weekend with his big stoppage over Xander Zayas but pointed out his defense still has many wholes in it.
He called for him to improve it moving forward and he is very right.
Ennis gets caught not only in exchanges on the inside but at times even at distance too.
Although he appears to work better at distance.
This to us is where he needs to improve on his defense best.
Not getting into the pocket on the inside in too many exchanges.
His guard is low as well and can be tighter and not as lazy and over relaxed when hanging back at middle or long range even.
He needs to be more switched on from bell one when boxing on the outside and needs to set things up with feints and jabs more.
Fighting on the inside too much gets him in trouble at close quarters.
Furthermore, his head movement can be quite good, Ennis’, but it is not sharp enough.
He slips the occasional jab but can improve this a lot from the outside behind the jab.
Xander Zayas is not a very fast or powerful boxer at 154 pounds and did more than tag Ennis, he hurt him to his boots at times.
Pardon the pun Jaron Boots Ennis — ‘Boots’ being Ennis’ nickname.
Algieri has a valid point and this is surely the number one technical department in the sweet science game of Jaron Ennis he needs to work on.
Being from Philadephia he can also surely work on improving his variations of the Philly crab defense when deflecting blows with his shoulder and countering.
Again, even from at range.
Jaron Ennis is not the best boxer on Earth but is a top tound pound for pound rated boxer in the Boxing News and Views rankings currently.
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