Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) promised to put on a definitive performance that included a knockout of Karen Chukhadzhian (24-3, 13 KOs) in tonight’s rematch, but that’s not at all the way things played out. Unlike the first meeting between the two, where Chukhadzhian fought a negative, keep-away style, Chukhadzhian came to fight and win tonight, which made for a very different kind of matchup. From the opening bell Chukhadzhian was standing his ground much more, and throwing more punches, and with Boots fighting in a bit of an arrogant stance in front of his hometown fans, he took a lot of clean punches from Chukhadzhian even if he never appeared to be in any real trouble.
That said, Boots certainly landed plenty of his own punches and had Chukhadzhian reeling at several points in the fight, and even forced Chukhadzhian to take a knee in the fifth round during a Boots onslaught. Unfortunately Boots was never truly able to find the keys to a stoppage and showed signs of frustration as Chukhadzhian did everything in his power to make it to the end and survive scary moments, which included a periods of a lot of holding which would cost him a point deduction in the 10th. In the end Boots would end up taking a unanimous decision on scores of 119-107, 117-109, 116-110 and didn’t seem too thrilled with his performance in the post-fight interview, where he indicated that it may be time for him to move up to 154 lbs where he thinks he could perform better.
Boots would a.
