‘Boots’ Ennis defends welterweight championship with unanimous decision win over Chukhadzhian

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jaron Ennis’ latest 147-pound title defense could be his last one in the weight class — the Philly fighter with designs on winning more championships is on the brink of moving up for a new set of challengers.

Ennis defended his share of the 147-pound championship with a flat performance in front of his hometown crowd, taking a unanimous decision victory over Ukrainian fighter Karen Chukhadzhian on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

Known as Boots, Ennis won 119-107, 117-109, 116-110 on the scorecards to retain the IBF welterweight championship.

“I felt it was an OK performance,” Ennis said. “I could have been so much better.”

The 27-year-old Ennis, out of northwest Philadelphia, fought for the second time this year at the Philadelphia arena home to both the 76ers and Flyers.

Ennis has been vocal about wanting to fight Errol Spence Jr. or Terence Crawford. He’d also like a shot at Canelo Alvarez. Ennis also hasn’t ruled out a move up in weight class to 154 pounds.

Should Ennis decide to surrender the 147-pound championship belt, the next fight could be a lucrative one. Ennis would be in line to fight interim WBC super welterweight championship Vergil Ortiz Jr. in February in Saudi Arabia.

“I want to fight the best,” Ennis said. “When you fight the best, you’re going to be better.”

Ennis (33-0) was on the brink of victory in the fifth round after a series of body shots dropped Chukhadzhian to his right knee in a corner and got a rise out of the Philly crowd.

Ennis’ corner barked at the fighter to get Chukhadzhian “outta here already!” deep into the fight. Ennis has been touted as one of the rising stars in a sport desperately in need of one in America.

He didn’t lose the hometown crowd. Ennis sure didn’t win over many other fans — especially any first-time viewers who watched the card on DAZN — with a stoppage never seriously within reach, though going for the big KO seemed to be his lone goal.

“I know my next fight I’m going to be good, going to be better,” Ennis said.

It was a rematch of their January 2023 fight that Ennis won by unanimous decision. Ennis defended the welterweight title later that year against Roiman Villa in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and defeated David Avanesyan this year in his Philly homecoming.

The major knock on Ennis is his lack of defense.

Sure enough, Ennis stumbled in the first round after he was socked with a big left hand, though he never left his feet. Chukhadzhian (24-3) was more assertive in the rematch — and needed to be after a widely panned performance in their first fight. He landed his share of body shots, just not enough to inflict serious damage or take enough rounds on the scorecards.

Ennis headlined a card in July that attracted a surprising 14,119 fans to the Wells Fargo Center.

The crowd Saturday night didn’t quite hit the July attendance mark, in large part because of a rematch against a lackluster opponent. Still, about 10,000 fans were solidly behind Boots — he wore metal shoulder spikes and purple and white trunks as he was walked to the ring accompanied by rapper G Herbo — and all raised their smartphones when the ring announcer implored them to “shine your light for Boots!”

“Nobody really wanted to see this fight,” Ennis said. “I took this fight to stay busy. He was my mandatory (defense) so I had to fight him.”

His fights are promoted by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing.

“We know we can bring big crowds to Philadelphia,” Hearn said. “We love it here. Huge crowd both times.”

Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez successfully defended his share of the super flyweight title with a TKO win over Pedro Guevara in the third round. The 24-year-old Rodriguez, out of San Antonio, knocked down Guevara twice in the third, the second time put the challenger on his back and that was enough for the referee to stop the fight.

Rodriguez (21-0) used a right uppercut to floor Guevara (42-5-1) in the third round and remain at the top of the 115-pound division.

“I’m pretty happy but I already kind of knew it was going to happen that way,” he said. “I really thought he was going to stand there and fight a little more.”

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