Jaron Ennis inks multi-fight deal with Showtime; to face Clayton May 14

Jaron Ennis has no idea when any of the welterweight champions will be willing to step into the ring with him.

In the meantime, 'Boots' will remain active. The 29-year-old has agreed to a multi-fight deal with Showtime.

BoxingScene.com was first to report the revelation.

Philadelphia's Ennis (28-0, 26 KOs) will square off against Canada's Custio Clayton (19-0-1, 12 KOs) on May 14 in a scheduled 12-round IBF title eliminator between unbeaten welterweight contenders.

The bout will serve as the chief support to the highly-anticipated rematch that will pit three-belt junior middleweight titleholder Jermell Charlo against WBO titlist Brian Castano, a rematch of their controversial split draw last July 17 in San Antonio.

Like undefeated WBO welterweight world champion Terence Crawford, Ennis has struggled to land significant matchups in the division because he isn't aligned with Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions, which has 23 signed 147-pounders in their stable. Of those fighters, 14 are current or former world champions, including unified titlist Errol Spence Jr. (IBF, WBC), and Yordenis Ugas (WBA "Super").

Spence and Ugas, of course, will clash on April 16 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the home of the Dallas Cowboys.

As part of Ennis' new deal with Showtime, he will continue to compete on PBC shows while not being contractually bound to the organization. But it remains a possibility that Ennis will eventually join.

For instance, Russia's Radzhab Butaev (14-0, 11 KOs), who holds the WBA "regular" welterweight title, is also affiliated with Haymon and his upcoming opponent, Lithuania's Eimantas Stanionis. The fellow unbeaten 147-pound contenders will square off in support of the Spence-Ugas show.

Showtime has televised Ennis' last nine bouts. In those contests, the 24-year-old has won eight of them by knockout. The lone fight that failed to produce a KO was a disappointing first-round no-decision against Chris van Heerden after the South African was rendered unable to continue after an accidental clash of heads opened up a massive cut on his forehead.

Since that unfortunate event, Ennis scored a sixth-round knockout of former 140-pound titlist Sergey Lipinets and followed up with a first-round destruction of former junior welterweight title challenger Thomas Dulorme.

Ottawa's Clayton, 34, was inactive for much of 2021 before outpointing journeyman Cameron Krael (18-21-3, 5 KOs) in their 10-rounder December 11 in Carson, California.