Two of the most young and exciting champions in boxing shared the marquee on Saturday night in Philadelphia and each put forth a dominant performance in a star-studded doubleheader.
Jaron “Boots” Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) defended his IBF welterweight title with a wide decision over mandatory challenger Karen Chukhadzhian (24-3, 13 KOs) in their rematch headlining a Matchroom Sport card inside Wells Fargo Center. In the co-main event, 24-year-old breakout star Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez made a spectacular defense of his WBC super flyweight title by dropping former junior flyweight titleholder Pedro Guevara twice en route to a third-round TKO.
The 27-year-old Ennis was unable to live up to his pre-fight promise of a knockout due to the iron chin on display from Chukhadzhian, a 28-year-old native of Ukraine. Ennis still got the better of the exchanges and scored a fifth-round knockdown on his way to claiming a unanimous decision on judges’ scores of 119-107, 117-109 and 116-110.
“My performance was OK. I don’t know, man, I think it might be time to go to 154 [pounds],” Ennis said. “I felt good but I felt like I will be way better and my pop is where it’s supposed to be. I’m getting older and I’ll be 28 next year.”
Ennis headlined in his home city for the second time since July but was hit more than usual as Chukhadzhian refused to give up. Chukhadzhian, who entered riding a three-fight win streak, even wobbled Ennis in Round 12 on a left hook.
Luckily for the fans, the rematch was a lot more entertaining than the first meeting in January 2023 when Ennis, who was defending his IBF interim title, was forced to frustratingly chase a defensive-minded Chukhadzhian throughout as the crowd booed the lack of action. Neither Ennis nor boxing fans had any interest in a second fight but the IBF mandated a rematch that forced Ennis to take the fight or be stripped of his title.
Chukhadzhian was much more offensive the second time around and really made Ennis work for his offensive success.
“I was prepared for anything he had coming, it didn’t really matter to me,” Ennis said. “But I’m glad I got the win. I felt OK but it is on to bigger and better. At the end of the day, I wanted to be better than last time. I wanted to get that knockout. I hurt him a lot of times but I was like rushing.
“When you fight bottom-tier guys, sometimes you don’t want to get up for them. I know if I fight a way better guy, I’m going to be crazy and I’m going to be on point. That’s what is going to make me better. I’m not saying he’s a bad fighter or anything but I need them top guys.”
Ennis outlanded Chukhadzhian, according to CompuBox, by a margin of 224 to 173 over 12 rounds. But Chukhadzhian landed a higher percentage of power shots at 37.1% and relied on his awkward style to frustrate Ennis with timing.
Ennis, who switched stances throughout, hurt Chukhadzhian with a series of combinations in Round 5. After a right uppercut and clubbing left hand connected, Chukhadzhian willingly took a knee in order to gain respite during the 10-count.
Chukhadzhian was later docked a point by referee Harvey Dock in Round 10 for holding but went on to outland Ennis in each of the final two rounds.
“If we can get one of these [other titleholders at welterweight] to stop playing, let’s make [a unification fight] happen,” Ennis said. “But if not, 154 [pounds], here we come.”
Rodriguez finishes Guevara in Round 3
Rodriguez (21-0, 14 KOs) continued his march up the top 10 of the pound-for-pound rankings by blasting through his mandatory challenger, the 35-year-old veteran Guevara (42-5-1, 22 KOs), to make the second defense of the WBC super flyweight title he captured in April 2023.
The native of San Antonio, Texas, did it with his trademark speed and power as much as he did it with pure precision as he tripled his opponent in total punches landed. Rodriguez connected on 35% of his punches overall and a healthy 43.8% of his power shots. He also held a 28-to-3 advantage in body shots.
“I’m pretty happy but I kind of already knew it was going to happen that way,” Rodriguez said. “But it is what it is, let’s go on to the next. I just had a feeling [I would knock him out] and when you have that feeling, a fighter knows it.”
After taking his time in the opening round, the southpaw Rodriguez steadily increased his pressure with a focus to the body. A clean left uppercut from Rodriguez rang Guevara’s bell late in Round 2 before the precise marksmanship of the champion broke through in the next round.
Rodriguez sidestepped a jab and connected on a powerful left uppercut. From there, a counter left cross from Rodriguez sent Guevara to the canvas. Rodriguez would score a second knockdown moments later on a beautiful right uppercut before referee Ricky Gonzalez counted Guevara out at 2:47 of Round 3.
“I was just having fun and whatever I was doing, it just came natural,” Rodriguez said. “I felt good, this is my weight class right now. We have a few more fights here and let’s go from there. Give me a unification fight, I’m ready right now.”
Having already scored breakthrough victories over super flyweight legends Juan Francisco Estrada, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Carlos Cuadras, Rodriguez now has his sights set on the final boss of this renaissance era at super flyweight: former P4P king and 37-year-old living legend Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez.
“I’m ready for it,” Rodriguez said. “If the unification don’t come, why not [Gonzalez]? That would be badass. Take them all out.”
Rodriguez’s promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport, couldn’t hide his excitement for his young fighter’s bright future.
“That was like just an artist at work,” Hearn said. “You have to understand, this young man is 24 years of age. He’s an exceptional talent. You are talking about the future of boxing in this country and the future of boxing around the world.”
