Mandatory assignment compounds Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis’ pursuit of prominence
Aug 17, 2024 • 7:41 AM ET
In need of a big fight to lift his popularity closer to the astounding heights of his talent, Philadelphia’s Jaron “Boots” Ennis instead gained another anchor on his quest with the IBF assigning him a mandatory date against a fighter he’s also convincingly defeated.
Ennis promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed IBF welterweight champion Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) is again tasked with defeating Ukraine’s Karen Chukhadzhian (24-2, 13 KOs), whom Ennis defeated by a wide decision (three 120-108 scores) in January 2023.
Hearn lamented the assignment, which was made on July 31, according to an IBF official, and said he had hopes of scheduling a more demanding fight for the champion who’s drawn favorable comparisons to Roy Jones Jr. while being avoided by older former welterweight champions Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.
“I’m not over the moon about it,” Hearn said in a video interview. “We want to make the biggest fights out there … unification fights.”
The problem with that is two of the fellow welterweight champions (Eimantas Stanionis and Mario Barrios Jr.) are with a rival promoter, Premier Boxing Champions, and the other, WBO champion Brian Norman Jr., just claimed his belt this week when Crawford officially vacated and moved up to junior-middleweight, where he won the WBA belt Aug. 3.
Hearn said he made a substantial offer for Ennis to fight WBC champion Barrios, which brought a scoff from a boxing official familiar with the situation.
“We have a different opinion over what constitutes a ‘substantial’ offer,” the official said. “Eddie’s talking out of his (rear) to cover (it) with the Ennis’.”
That gloomy forecast for a Barrios bout comes as a representative to another bout, former WBA featherweight champion Raymond Ford versus Orlando “Capu” Gonzalez, has reported they believe that bout is headed under Ennis’ next fight, Nov. 9 in Philadelphia.
Hearn nor Matchroom Promotions has confirmed the card or date.
If it does land on the Nov. 9, however, it may go head-to-head with a PBC Amazon Prime Video pay-per-view headlined by popular unbeaten lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis.
Davis is believed to have his pick of a November date, and one official would not rule out a Nov. 9 Davis fight on the day PBC won the rights to stage the WBC junior-welterweight title fight for the belt vacated by Devin Haney.
Dominican Republic’s Alberto Puello (23-0, 10 KOs) will meet Spain’s Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs) is being aimed for November, said another boxing official who was briefed on the plans.
Why would Ennis and promoter Eddie Hearn take on that potential losing battle for viewers?
Why is Ennis fighting Chukhadzhian?
And why does this marvelous talent continue getting saddled by poor fortune?
The questions, and the frustrations, keep piling on.
Lance Pugmire has been a full-time boxing writer for nearly 20 years, serving now as BoxingScene’s U.S. Senior Writer and assistant producer for ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today.” Pugmire capped a near 20-year career at the Los Angeles Times (sports investigations, NHL/MLB beat work, law enforcement/courts and boxing/UFC) to join The Athletic, and then USA Today. Pugmire’s stint at The Times started with the first Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez fight and the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jnr then-record pay-per-view, leading through a slew of ringside assignments at major bouts, including Mayweather-Pacquiao, Mayweather-Canelo and the Canelo-Golovkin trilogy. Lance’s appreciation for boxing is rooted in his admiration and appreciation for the fighters, gladiators who have proven to be the most forthcoming and candid of all the athletes he has interviewed over a career dating to 1990. Lance was honored to be named the 2022 winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence and he’s collected many BWAA writing awards in categories ranging from breaking news to deep-dive long features.
