Jaron Ennis, Joe Smith Jr., Efe Ajagba, Jerwin Ancajas … All Big Winners (4-10-21)

By Tom Donelson / Author, Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

Jaron Ennis, undefeated welterweight, faced his toughest test in Sergey Lipinets, the former 140 pound champion whose only loss was to Mikey Garcia.  Ennis proved from the opening bell that he was the faster and sharper puncher.  He moved seamlessly from southpaw to orthodox as he nailed Lipinets from every angle.  Lipinets had faced some of the best fighters in his division and had a reputation with an iron clad chin.

Ennis sent Lipinets down in the fourth even though replays showed Lipinets may have tripped on Ennis’ foot; but regardless, Ennis was getting the best of the round.  The fight stopped in the sixth round as Ennis overwhelmed his opponent.  Ennis showed that he might be close to the upper elites of the division as he displayed both power and mobility to get those power shots off.

Joe Smith Jr. won a tough majority decision over Maxim Vasilov.  It was a close fight and Smith won the final two rounds and had Vasilov in trouble in the eleventh; but the previous three rounds, Vasilov looked like he had the fight in hand as he was boxing beautifully and connecting on combinations that opened a cut over Smith’s eye. There were many at ringside that had Vasilov winning but it was a close, tough fight that could have been scored in favor of either fighter. The judges simply liked the more aggressive style of Smith. Now there will be a unification bout with Arthur Beterbiev and while some may want a Vasilov-Smith rematch, the bigger fight will be the unification bout. So Vasilov will have to wait for the winner of that one.

Efe Ajagba scored a spectacular one punch knockout over Brian Howard with a crushing right hand and now he is a potential contender in a heavyweight division that is becoming interesting with many fighters scrambling to get in position to challenge the winner of the Joshua-Fury fight down the road.  Ajagba is a big 6’6” slugger and, at 26, has time on his side.

Jerwin Ancajas is one of the best in the talent rich Super flyweight category and while he is not the biggest name in the division, he may be the best. This past Saturday, though, he faced a determined opponent in Jonathan Rodriguez in a hard fought bout that saw both fighters throwing over 1500 punches.  The scorecard didn’t reflect the closeness of the fight as one judge had Ancajas winning 9 rounds and the other 8 rounds. I had this 115-112 for Ancajas, but it could have easily been scored 114-113 or even 114-113 in favor of the challenger. Rodriguez looked out of the fight after the eighth, but he won the final three rounds.  Ancajas scored a knockdown in the eighth round as he hurt Rodriguez with a body shot and a flurry of punches which sent the challenger down.  Over the last three rounds, Rodriguez showed grit and tightened the fight up.  This was a great bout in which both fighters gave it all they had and those of us who watched it at home were equally winners.

One thought on “Jaron Ennis, Joe Smith Jr., Efe Ajagba, Jerwin Ancajas … All Big Winners (4-10-21)

  1. What an outstanding night of boxing! I had Vlasov slightly over Smith in a no complaints with the cards great fight. Ancajas is definitely a bjg fish in his division!! And Ajagba has frightening power at HW that makes fans want to watch.

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