Eimantas Stanionis has taken a long road to get to this point. Stanionis has fought only once in almost three years, but that doesn’t come close to detailing his journey. 

Stanoinis, 15-0 (9 KOs), will put his WBA welterweight title on the line against the IBF title holder Jaron “Boots” Ennis, on Saturday at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The truth is, Stanionis, from Lithuania, has been yearning for a fight like this. He has fought just once since his 2022 split decision victory over Radzhab Butaev and during subsequent periods of inactivity would often head home to wait for news. 

“It's been a long process,” Marvin Somodio, Stanionis’ trainer, told BoxingScene. “He became a world champion three years ago and it was tough for him because he didn't fight often after that title fight.”

Defeating Butaev saw Stanionis win a form of the WBA welterweight title. Then, when Terence Crawford moved up in weight after becoming the undisputed champion, Stanionis became the outright titleholder. After that came 2023, a year Stanionis would like to forget. He was first set to face Vergil Ortiz Jnr, only for it to get delayed due to Stanionis having appendicitis. Following that, two rescheduled bouts would later fall through on fight week.

In 2024, meanwhile, Stanionis fought only once, against Olympian Gabriel Maestre. The 30-year-old is now perceived as an under-the-radar titleholder rather than the emerging force he once was.

“Shit happens,” Stanionis told BoxingScene about the last couple of years. “I want to be an active fighter. I want to fight three or four times a year like fighters did back in the day. That is my main priority: to be active.”

“People don't talk about him, the media, the same thing, because they don't see him often,” Somodio said. “I think that's the only reason why they think we are going to be an easy opponent.”

Stanionis trained through it all and credited his wife with helping his mindset; sometimes back home in Lithuania and sometimes at Wild Card Boxing in Hollywood, California. One day he would be happy and then one day he would be depressed.

“I was training all the time,” Stanionis said of that time. “I just wanted to fight.”

Now, he has got it. The biggest fight in his division was always a unification match with its superstar, Ennis, 33-0 (29 KOs). Somodio noted that, although not intentional, he feels a fighter is more motivated when in a 50-50 type of fight.

“We've been waiting for a big fight,” Somodio said. “The motivation is different when you're fighting the guy you think you can beat. The training, you don't put your 100 per cent in the gym, and me, as a trainer, sometimes I get too confident.”

“Everyone thinks he is unbeatable and the biggest star coming up,” Stanionis said. “It is a big motivation for me. They have plans for him later on, so I want to ruin their plans. I want to take his spot.”

The team learned a lesson last year against Maestre. Somodio had high hopes for Stanionis and believed Stanionis would stop him. However, by quoting his mentor Freddie Roach, Somodio points out: “Inactivity is the biggest sin in boxing.

“I'm glad that fight happened,” Somodio added. “I was very confident that he was going to stop Maestre, and I never thought about inactivity. Then we went to the fight, and you saw the fight… we won, but it was not easy.”
Ennis, a 27-year-old from Philadelphia, is bringing a marquee bout to Boardwalk Hall, the place Arturo Gatti made famous decades ago.

“I like being the underdog,” Stanionis said. “I don’t care what people say.”

“I love that people are underestimating us,” Somodio said. “It makes us more motivated and excited to show who we are.”