Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis says his inability to defeat Karen Chukhadzhian last year had nothing to do with what they did in their fight in Washington, DC.
Boots (32-0, 29 KOs) blamed himself because he went to the fight trying to knock him down instead of having fun the way he usually does. Chukhadzhian (24-2, 13 KOs) took advantage of Ennis’ swing by making him miss and land an offensive shot that made him look bad.
IBF welterweight champion Ennis, 27, will have a chance to show fans he can knock out #1 Chukhadzhian when they meet next month in a rematch on November 9 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Chukhadzhian has a three-fight winning streak to earn a mandatory position to face Ennis again, and he will want to take advantage of this opportunity. Ennis feels that Chukhadzhian will try to be aggressive this time because he did not win the last round, losing by scores of 120-108, 120-108, and 120-108.
This will be Ennis’ second fight at Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom, and he will have to look good because the British promoter has been pushing him to the fans. Unfortunately, Ennis didn’t impress in his first fight under Hearn’s wing, getting knocked out by David Avanesyan on July 13. He won by knockout in the fifth round, but it wasn’t a spectacular effort.
“It wasn’t him. It was me. My mind was, ‘I’m taking him out.’ You can’t fight like that thinking you’re going to knock someone out,” said Jaron Ennis talking to Brian Mazique about what happened in his previous fight with Karen Chukhadzhian last week.
“I left myself not enjoying myself, and if I go back to fun, it will be another blow to put him down. In this next fight, I will put on a show and not watch it. Let me be me. Don’t look for a knockout. “As you saw I was getting back to having fun in my last fight, the knockdown came,” said Ennis about his fight with David Avanesyan last July.
It would be better if Ennis just gave Chukhadzhian credit for making him look poor rather than putting it on him to fight a bad fight. The way he talks, Ennis sounds like he’s just making excuses, he doesn’t know how to admit that he doesn’t have the skills to do the job.
“He will not change his style. He might be a little more. He tried to punch in the last fight, but he didn’t win the round. “I feel like he’s coming together a little bit this time, but I feel like if he gets a touch, he’ll get back on his bike,” Ennis said.
Chukhadzhian always fights defensively in every fight. Therefore, it is foolish of Ennis to think that he will fight him violently in a rematch. What Chukhadzhian can do is try to steal some rounds, and make Ennis look bad again. That could hurt his chances of getting a fight with Terence Crawford.
“It happened to me in the last fight. It was my doing, not him. Ever since we fought, he’s been winning, and he’s been a force. That’s how it happened,” said Ennis.
It looked like Jaron Ennis was the same as always, but he was facing a fighter with amazing defensive skills on par with Shakur Stevenson. Against a defensive artist like Chukhadzihian, Ennis has to fight a lot differently because he’s not going to take this guy out by swinging for the fences.
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