Eddie Hearn says IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis should either fight a unification against one of the other three champions at 147 or move up to 154 to challenge Vergil Ortiz Jr. for his WBC interim title following Ennis’ win over Karen Chukhadzhian last Saturday night in Philadelphia.
Ennis can make a lot of money by fighting Vergil Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) in one of the Riyadh Season events and put himself in the position to get a lot of great fights in the 154-lb division. If Ennis stays at welterweight, he may never get any of the champions to fight him. The negative about Boots going up to 154 is that he could lose to Vergil, and that would hurt his popularity more than tonight’s fight against Chukhadzhian.
Boots Has Big Decision to Make
Hearn states that Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) has a “big decision to make” about which direction he wants to take with his career. He feels that Ennis’ performance against Chudhadzhian (24-3, 13 KOs), which many fans felt was well below his standards, was not a great one for him at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
The 10,000+ fans that showed up to watch Ennis weren’t excited about what they saw, as they were quiet for most of the 12-round fight. They had nothing to cheer about because Chukhadzhian was outboxing Ennis almost the entire fight.
The best moments in the fight for Ennis were his fifth-round knockdown and the point deduction taken away from Chukhadzhian for holding in round ten. Ennis won by the scores 119-107, 117-111, and 116-111.
Chukhadzhian landed the cleaner shots and looked amazing with the technical skills he showed. Nobody in the welterweight division has the talent that Chukhadzhian showed tonight. He’s on another level of anyone at 147 or 140.
“Now, we’ve got a big decision to make. I never liked giving up world titles, but sometimes the time is right,” said Eddie Hearn during the post-fight press conference following Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis’ win over Karen Chukhadzhian on Saturday night.
It’s an easy decision for Boots if he’s going to be offered a massive payday by His Excellency Turki Alalshikh to fight Vergil Ortiz Jr. in Riyadh. That’s a far better option than staying at welterweight and possibly not getting the unification fights that he wants.
Ennis Can Increase His Popularity
“We may get a substantial offer to fight Vergil Ortiz in Saudi Arabia, and then from there, it’s on Jaron and Bozy. They’ll get my advice, but these are the guys that will make the decision. For me, it’s either unification or Ortiz,” Hearn said.
“The reason we fought Chukhadzhian tonight is Boots had a desire to fight the other championships at 147. We’ve got to review that position. We’ve got to look at the option for Vergil Ortiz. We’ve got to look at the financial package for that. Don’t forget. A win over Vergil Ortz on a Riyadh Season card is going to take his profile to another level. So, it’s going to be very tempting.
“It’s a brilliant fight. Boots against Vergil Ortiz is one of the best fights to be made, not just in the division but in boxing. Two tremendous young fighters,” said Hearn.
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Main event @VergilOrtiz vs Boots Ennis— Oscar De La Hoya (@OscarDeLaHoya) November 10, 2024
