Eimantas Stanionis now has an official opponent for his long overdue homecoming headliner.
The former WBA welterweight titleholder will face South Africa’s Jabulani Makhense atop a September 27 show at Zalgiris Arena in his hometown of Kaunas, Lithuania. The scheduled ten-round welterweight bout will mark Stanionis’ first pro appearance in his native country.
The event comes on the heels of his first career defeat. Stanionis, 15-1 (9 KOs; 1 No-Contest) was stopped after six rounds by Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, 34-0 (30 KOs) in their WBA-IBF 147lbs unification bout on April 12 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Stanionis, a 2016 Olympian for Lithuania, claimed the secondary version of the WBA title in April 2022 and was upgraded to full titlist when Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford, 41-0 (31 KOs) moved up to 154lbs last summer. His primary title reign came without a successful defense, as he hadn’t fought since a May 2024 win over Gabriel Maestre prior to his abovementioned defeat to Ennis.
The wide gap between fights is, unfortunately, a recurring theme in Stanionis’ pro career. The win over Maestre marked his lone secondary title defense, having not fought since his April 2022 split decision victory over Radzhab Butaev.
Ennis, Maestre and Butaev were all unbeaten at the time they faced Stanionis, in bouts spread out over three years.
Makhens, 16-2 (8 KOs), will fight outside of South Africa for just the second time in his nine-year pro career.
The 32-year-old fringe welterweight contender from Pretoria, Gauteng also takes a considerable leap in competition. He enters this assignment having won his last two starts in May and June following a 20-month ring absence after a September 2023 twelve-round, unanimous decision to unbeaten Vitaly Petryakov on the road in Almetyevsk, Russia.
In addition to the homecoming, Stanionis gets a much-needed second fight on the year. He has not enjoyed that rate of activity since 2021, a year where his second fight was a truncated, five-round No-Contest with former WBA welterweight titlist Luis Collazo.
