British welterweight Harry Scarff in line for IBF world title eliminator
‘Horrible’ Harry Scarff is in line for a shot at the IBF world welterweight title belonging to Jaron Ennis.
Purse bids were called for Harry Scarff (13-2, 3KO) and Karen Chukhadzhian (23-2, 13KO) for an IBF world welterweight title eliminator, which Wasserman Boxing subsequently won with a winning bid of $141,305, which outnumbered P2M Box-Promotion ($121,121) as the only other bidder, as reported by BoxingScene.
Having Won the IBF European title in his last fight, the Derby boxer entered the top 15, currently rated IBF #8.
The 30-year-old dethroned previously unbeaten Ekow Essuman for the British, Commonwealth and IBF European titles in Manchester last November.
The winner of the ordered eliminator will automatically become mandatory challenger to the IBF welterweight titlejolder Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (31-0, 28KO), who is authorised a voluntary defence in the interim.
Unbeaten Ennis has been entangled in lawsuits with estranged promoter NOW Boxing, but is expected to return to the ring in May.
There has been some difficulty in finding willing contenders to face Ennis, which is why a final elimination bout has been ordered, despite it being greeted with scepticism.
Dan Rafael tweeted on X: “IBF purse bid scheduled for Thursday for a welterweight eliminator for No. 1 between Karen Chukhadzhian vs. Harry Scarff. If the fight happens, the winner will be mandatory for Jaron Ennis, which is just sick on every level.”
Chukhadzhian has already faced ‘Boots’ in Washington in January 2023, defeated comfortably on points. The scores of 108-120 from all three judges meant the Ukrainian didn’t win a single round of the one-sided contest.
The prospect of a rematch doesn’t excite many fight fans, and English, British, Commonwealth champ Scarff isn’t regarded as world level by some. The European welterweight title held by Jordy Weiss looked to be the natural next step for the Brit, but instead an avenue to a world title fight has popped up.