Philly’s Jaron Ennis remains undefeated, title shot could be next

WASHINGTON — The fight ended Saturday night and the crowd — which roared when Philadelphia’s Jaron Ennis entered — didn’t know how to react.

The Philadelphia fighter had done enough to stay undefeated but his 12-round unanimous decision over Karen Chukhadzhian didn’t produce the fireworks the sold-out crowd had come to see.

Ennis (30-0, 27 knockouts) controlled the fight but never seemed fully comfortable against the Ukrainian, who craftily moved around the ring and withstood Ennis’ attack. And the reaction from the crowd was muted when the final bell ring.

The clashing styles made for a rather plodding affair, causing the 19,731 fans at the Capital One Arena to boo in the later rounds when it became more likely that judges would decide the outcome.

Ennis won all three cards, 120-108, as he swept each of the 12 rounds to claim the interim IBF welterweight title. It was the first time he fought 12 rounds and the first time since a six-round decision in April of 2017 that Ennis was forced to go the distance.

“I learned to just take my time and to not rush anything,” Ennis said. “I’m glad I went 12 rounds. It felt great. I felt I was in the best shape. I just needed to throw a little more punches. I should have got him out of there.”

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Ennis finally seemed to hurt Chukhadzhian (21-2, 11 KOs) in the 10th with a vicious body shot. Ennis, who grew up in Germantown, hunted him for the final 90 seconds of the round but was unable to land the knockout. It was the closest Ennis came to scoring a stoppage, which is how he won his previous 19 victories. Ennis produced much of the action, but it was not the destruction that many predicted.

The fighters, according to CompuBox, landed nearly the same amount of power punches in the first half of the fight before Ennis landed 102 power punches to Chukhadzhian’s 46 in rounds 7-12. Ennis landed 203 total punches over 12 rounds while Chukhadzhian landed just 97.

“He ran a lot,” Ennis said. “Hats off to him since a lot of guys didn’t want to fight me. So shout out to him for coming here and taking this fight.”

The win was the featured undercard bout of a pay-per-view telecast headlined by WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis. It proved to be the stiffest challenge of the Philly fighter’s career, and it came on likely the biggest stage, perhaps providing him more cachet to land a title shot.

The International Boxing Federation told his father that they would give Errol Spence Jr. 120 days after his next fight to schedule a title defense against Ennis. But nothing is ever that simple.

Spence could vacate his three welterweight titles and move to 154 pounds. Or Spence could vie for a fight against WBO champ Terence Crawford to decide a unanimous 147-pound champ.

If Ennis is unable to entice Spence, his next bout could be against Roiman Villa (26-1, 24 KOs) who scored two knockdowns in the final round to score a majority decision in an IBF title eliminator against Rashidi Ellis in the bout that preceded Ennis-Chukhadzhian. But Ennis is seeking a bigger name.

“Everyone knows that I want Errol Spence and the winner of Virgil Ortiz and Eimantas Stanionis,” said Ennis as Ortiz and Stanionis will meet in March. “All the top guys. Let’s get it.”

The establishment of the division has so far stayed away from Ennis, who his dad called a “high risk, low reward” fighter. He possesses the skills that make many believe he is one of the sport’s future stars. But the title shot — which he thought he secured last April — remains elusive.

The younger Ennis said before Saturday’s win that the welterweight veterans eventually will have to fight him. And that could be soon.