The rematch nobody asked for served as little more than a reminder of why nobody asked for it.
A little under two years after Jaron “Boots” Ennis shut out Karen Chukhadzhian over 12 dreary, frustrating rounds in Washington, D.C., he repeated the feat in his hometown of Philadelphia, and the same adjectives applied. The differences were that this time Ennis scored a knockdown, Chukhadzhian lost a point for holding and the judges all found rounds to give Chukhadzhian.
The official scores were 119-107, 117-109 and 116-110, lifting Ennis’ record to 33-0 with 29 KOs – which can be subdivided into 31-0 with 29 KOs against opponents not named Karen Chukhadzhian and 2-0 with 0 KOs against the Ukrainian.
For reasons that remain mystifying, the IBF made Chukhadzhian the mandatory challenger to Ennis’ welterweight title, meaning Boots had to face him a second time or give up his belt. So face him a second time he did, this time in Ennis’ hometown, and promoter Matchroom USA, sensing Ennis Chukhadzhian II may not get potential customers’ hearts pounding, beefed up the card with a co-feature showcasing 115-pound champ Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez.
But whereas Rodriguez dazzled and won his fight by KO, Ennis fought sloppily and raised the prospect that he is stagnating by not being tested against top-notch opponents.
“When you’re fighting bottom-tier guys, sometimes you can’t get up for them,” he glumly said afterward. “When I fight top guys, I’m going to be way better. I need top guys.”
Chukhadzhian, for his part, came to fight this time – at least early on, and when he wasn’t excessively holding. The 28-year-old challenger seemed perhaps stung by the criticism of his negative performance in the fighters’ initial meeting, and stood at range more in the rematch, cooperating at times with Ennis’ aims of scoring a knockout. But Ennis was also cooperating with Chukhadzhian, 24-3 (13 KOs), by allowing himself to be hit flush quite a bit throughout the fight. This is the third fight in a row in which the 27-year-old mega-talent has displayed a fair amount of defensive carelessness.
Still, it looked like Boots was on his way to the result he desired in the fifth round. He landed several bombs along the ropes, and finished the sequence by sending the Ukrainian to the canvas with a right uppercut. To his credit, Chukhadzhian rose and fought back, and even landed a few solid punches as Ennis grew sloppy in pursuit of an early ending that would send the Wells Fargo Center crowd home happy.
From the sixth round on, Chukhadzhian incorporated more holding into his game, and referee Harvey Dock gave him a hard warning for it in the seventh. Chukhadzhian was outlanding Ennis in the ninth round, but he seemed to dare judges not to score it for him by spending significant chunks of the round mauling. In the 10th, Dock finally a took a point from the challenger for applying his vise grip.
As the rounds ticked down and it became clear Boots would again be unable to finish the crafty Chukhadzhian, the hometown fighter’s focus seemed to wane. He was clearly unconcerned about Chukhadzhian hurting him, but he did open the door for his lesser foe to tally a few points with the judges.
Neither the fans nor the fighters, nor promoter Eddie Hearn, seemed thrilled with the outcome. It was a rematch that shouldn’t have happened, but it was forced upon Ennis and the Philadelphia faithful. Whether his reputation in the sport and his local drawing power will now take a hit is unclear. All he can do is try to put it behind him – and hope nobody mandates Ennis-Chukhadzhian III.
Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with more than 25 years of experience covering the sport for such outlets as BoxingScene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, Ringside Seat, and The Ring (where he served as managing editor for seven years). He also co-hosted The HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney, The Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Raskin & Mulvaney, and Ring Theory. He has won three first-place writing awards from the BWAA, for his work with The Ring, Grantland, and HBO. Outside boxing, he is the senior editor of CasinoReports and the author of 2014’s The Moneymaker Effect. He can be reached on X or LinkedIn, or via email at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com.