Jaron Ennis defeated Karen Chukhadzhian in a unanimous decision to defend his IBF belt at 147, but he failed to get the knockout he sought.

Ennis was fighting in his hometown of Philadelphia for the second consecutive fight. In his last fight, he stopped David Avanesyan in dramatic circumstances. However, he failed to beat Karen in a fight that had already received backlash before it was made. It was a rematch of their clash last year, where Ennis won a unanimous decision. Boots took the fight again as it was his IBF mandatory. But that materialized after a unification fight against Brian Norman Jr. broke down. The pressure was on Ennis to get a spectacular KO, but Chukhadzhian had other plans.

The latter took the fight to Ennis in the earlier rounds, standing in range. Ennis wanted that, but in doing so, he was hit repeatedly in defensive lapses. In the first round, Chukhadzhian buzzed Ennis with a big right hand to give Boots a warning to not overlook his opponent. The next four rounds did not produce a lot of action. But that changed in the fifth. Ennis backed up Chukhadzhian on the ropes, sending his man to the canvas with a right uppercut. Chukhadzhian showed a lot of heart and landed his punches in return, as Boots did not get the stoppage.

Ennis Drops His Man

Chukhadzhian Hangs In

Chukhadzhian resorted to a defensive stance as he began holding on to Ennis on numerous occasions. That got him a warning from the referee in the seventh. But the challenger refused to go away. He had success in the ninth round, mauling Ennis at every opportunity. However, Chukhadzhian was docked a point in the tenth for excessive holding.

His grit was not enough to change the tide as Ennis won it comfortably on the cards: 119-107, 117-109 and 116-110. Ennis’ defensive work will worry his fans. The CompuBox numbers showed that Chukhadzhian landed 173 punches in total. 45 were from the jab and 128 power punches. But Boots was looking for the big fights moving ahead, as he stated he may move up to 154 pounds. Eddie Hearn had confirmed before the fight that talks had begun over a Vergil Ortiz Jr. bout.

Post-Fight

“I think it might be time to go to ’54. I felt good but I feel like at ’54 I’ll be way better and my pop will be where it’s supposed to be,” Ennis said

“There’s negotiations going on behind the scenes for a potential Ennis vs. Vergil Ortiz already in Saudi. I think Bozy might be referring to an earlier time when we looked to make the fight when the original mandatory was called, and we were deciding whether we were going to do it. Ortiz against Ennis is a massive fight, and it’s probably going to take His Excellency to come up with a number to get that in,” Hearn stated

Full Card

Jaron Ennis defended his IBF welterweight title, defeating Karen Chukhadzhian by unanimous decision in 12 rounds (scores: 119-107, 117-109, 116-111).

Jesse Rodriguez retained his WBC and Ring Magazine super flyweight titles, stopping Pedro Guevara by TKO in the 3rd round (2:47).

Raymond Ford won by unanimous decision over Orlando Gonzalez after 10 rounds (scores: 100-88, 100-88, 99-89) in the Super Featherweight division.

Manuel Gallegos defeated Khalil Coe by TKO early in the 9th round (0:07) in the Light Heavyweight division.

Austin Williams won by TKO over Gian Garrido in the 5th round in the Middleweight division.

Dennis Thompson defeated Edgar Ortiz Jr. by TKO in the 2nd round in the Super Bantamweight division.

Zaquin Moses won by unanimous decision over Michael Ruiz after 4 rounds in the Super Featherweight division.

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