Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis now faces a hard deadline to avoid an unwanted mandatory title defence.
The Ring confirmed that the IBF has scheduled a September 3 purse hearing for Ennis’ scheduled welterweight title fight against Karen Chukhadzhian. The development comes as the undefeated Philadelphia native plans a unification bout with WBO titleholder Brian Norman Jr.
Whatever progress has been made between the pair of undefeated titleholders will have to escalate before the purse bids. A delay can be requested, but it will have to be agreed by both sides.
The battle was ordered on July 31. The lack of discussion between titleholder and second-time challenger suggests that little or no discussion took place in this match. Ennis (31-0, 28 knockouts), The Ring’s number 1 rated welterweightis promoted by Matchroom Boxing. Ukraine’s Chukhadzhian (24-2, 13 KOs) is with Germany-based outfit P2M Box-Promotion.
Should the bout move forward, it would come as a rematch of Ennis’ twelve-round knockout over Chukhadzhian last January 6 in Washington, DC. Ennis won by scores of 120-108 on all three cards to claim the interim IBF welterweight title. It was his first distance fight in six years, while Chukhadzhian’s only career loss.
Ennis then defended the belt in a ninth-round stoppage of Roiman Villa last July 8 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It came three weeks before Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford’s technical knockout victory over Errol Spence last July 29 in Las Vegas.
Crawford was ordered to face Ennis in a title consolidation match. The 30 day period has passed with no discussions taking place. Crawford’s legal team informed the IBF just before the 30-day deadline that they could not commit to the order. A contractually bound rematch clause exercised by Spence made The Ring’s no. 3-rated pound-for-pound fighter left in no time.
Ennis was subsequently named full IBF titleholder. One defense followed, a fifth-round knockout of David Avanesyan. Their July 13 DAZN headliner marked Ennis’ DAZN debut and first fight at home in Philly since 2018.
Meanwhile, Chukhadzhian has made his way back to the number one slot in the IBF. The 28-year-old contender from Kiev scored a clear victory over England’s Harry Scarff in an IBF title eliminator on May 17 in Rothenbaum, Germany. The win was his third in a row.
Matchroom has set aside a tentative date – Nov. 9—for Ennis’ next DAZN headliner. A second fight with Chukhadzhian is a hard sell.
However, a title unification match with Norman boosted social media timelines.
The first round of talks began earlier this month, but the two sides were far apart over money. Brunch Boxing’s Matthew “Mimosa” Brown reported that the gap has narrowed significantly from Matchroom’s follow-up offering.
Norman (26-0, 20 KOs), 5 by 147 by The Ringhas enough leverage to where Matchroom might have to make a devil’s deal. However, the undefeated WBO welterweight titleholder will not be without an option if the fight does not take place next. Payday wouldn’t be quite the same, but—as reported by The Ring-the failsafe is a slot on Keyshawn Davis’ no. 8 homecoming card in Norfolk, Virginia.
This would represent the worst case scenario of all of this, but would still put Ennis and Norman on the same timeline. Their fights would end up being one night apart, which could be used to further build momentum towards a desired unification bout.
That said, most in the industry are rooting for a drastic turn of events between now and September 3rd.
