Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis vs Karen Chukhadzhian 2
IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (32-0, 29KO) defends his world title to mandatory challenger and familiar foe Karen Chukhadzhian (24-2, 13KO) on November 9, in his hometown of Philadelphia.
The Matchroom Boxing event is titled ‘Two Kings’, due to being joined by the co-feature between WBC super-flyweight boss ‘Bam’ Rodriguez vs Pedro Guevara, live on DAZN.
Ennis vs Chukhadzhian is a rematch from 22 months ago. They fought once before on January 7, 2023, and the result was a complete shutout from Boots – 120-108 on all three scorecards.
Chukhadzhian had his moments with a few counters, flurries, and some shots landing flush, but not enough to win a single round. In fact, he was outlanded by more than double the punches!
However, the Ukrainian has secured his mandatory shot with two stoppage wins in a row during 2023, then became IBF #1 when he decisioned England’s Harry Scarff unanimously in their final eliminator contest in May this year.
Usually, rematches are called for by public demand, such as when George Groves was stopped controversially by Carl Froch in their first fight; or by contractual clauses, like when Anthony Joshua triggered a second fight with Oleksandr Usyk in 2022. However, this rematch has been forced by Chukhadzhian’s mandatory challenger status; otherwise, would anyone really have wanted it?
Boots beat Chuk comprehensively almost two years ago, on the front foot throughout, the aggressor and dominator. Chukhadzhian slipped shots, skipped away, only holding his feet very occasionally to stand and fight. The one-sided 10th round almost saw Boots close the show, but Chukhadzhian is elusive and fleetfooted, always able to escape trouble. Now 28, he has never been stopped and only gone down once in his 26-bout pro career.
Since that meeting, Boots has won two on the spin, but against far better competition than Chuk. Now 27, the Philadelphian stopped once-beaten Roiman Villa in 10, then battered former world champ David Avanesyan in five, in July 2023 and July 2024, respectively.
Boots is a busy boxer – high output, lots of pressure. His ability to switch-hit not only causes confusion for opponents, but also demonstrates his level of skill. He is world class, at the top of his game, in his prime and improving. That’s why so many wish to see him in with Terence Crawford.
Boots overwhelms his foes, he can fight on the outside as well as inside, plus he can take a punch too.
Chukhadzhian has a nice, relaxed style, able to slip and roll punches, and pivot away with ease. As a Ukrainian, he shares that similar style to Lomachenko. However, it’s evident from his 13 KOs from 26 contests that he lacks power. Boots didn’t seem to be affected by Chuk’s punches during their first encounter, which lasted the full 36 minutes.
But that was then, and this is now. So, how will the replay go?
Prediction
With full respect to Chukhadzhian, I think he has a very skilful style, such a great mover, but just can’t envisage this contest going any different to the first. He didn’t show any signs of hurting Boots before, or even anything to show that he could come back stronger to get the better of him.
Plus, it has to be said that his last three foes have been a relatively easy pathway to mandatory status.
That means Boots will dominate every single round, however, this time, I believe he will want to go one better and force the stoppage.
Chukhadzhian has 12 rounds of data available to use against Boots, so I think he could go a lot of rounds in there, especially with his tricky movement that gets him out of trouble so often. Also, he is the only one of Ennis’s opponents to get past the 10th round.
Although this could very likely go the distance again for another one-sided unanimous decision, victory I predict Boots to win in rounds 7-12. If you fancy better odds, then go for rounds 10-12.