The father of IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis, hopes that challenger Karen Chukhadzhian will not run as he did in their previous fight last year on January 7.
Chukhadzhian blasted Boots for 12 rounds a year ago, making him look bad in his match in Washington, D.C. Ennis won, but he looked one-dimensional and unable to adapt to a fighter with a crafty style.
Ennis could have moved on
Papa Ennis is unhappy that Boots is saddled with the new Chukhadzhian fight. He has no other choice because the International Boxing Federation orders the fight for a mandatory defense. This could easily have been resolved if Ennis had been more courageous.
The boots may have been vacated and they are moving to challenge the IBF 154-lb champion Bakhram Murtazaliev for his waist. That would have been an obvious move for Ennis, but Murtazaliev is a devastating puncher and could knock Boots out. The Philadelphia native wants no part of moving up to 154 to face killers like Murtazaliev, Terence Crawford, Israil Madrimov, Vergil Ortiz Jr., and Serhii Bohachuk.
There would be a lot more interest from the fans in a Boots vs. Murtazaliev fight than there would be for Ennis to take on Chukhadzhian or any of the champions at 147. That would require a risk on Ennis’ part, and he doesn’t seem interested. putting his skin on the line against anyone with a real chance of beating him.
Bozy isn’t sure if Boots (32-0, 29 KOs) can knockout Chukhadzhian (24-2, 13 KOs) if he moves and holds it all night. While he is confident that Ennis can cut the ring to the 28-year-old Chukhadzhian, he can also survive holding to prevent Boots from missing his shots.
Boots vs. Chukhadzhian headline this Saturday, November 9, in their rematch at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The event will be shown live on DAZN. On the main support bout, WBC super flyweight champion Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez defends against Pedro Guevara. This fight has a good chance of stealing that show from Boots if he is unable to rediscover Chukhadzhian’s style.
Boots stock could go down
“I feel that we shouldn’t have to fight again. So, I think he found his way back to the top. That’s the mandate, and that’s the only reason why we took him. Other than that, no we didn’t get it,” said Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis to YSM Sports Media about his unhappiness that Boots Ennis needs to fight Karen Chukhadzhian again.
Ennis has no choice but to abide by the IBF rules to fight his mandatory Chukhadzhian if he wants to retain his title with his organization. Again, this is a problem that could easily be solved if Ennis vacated and moved up to challenge IBF junior middleweight champion Murtazaliev. He might be the underdog in that fight, and it’s a very different situation for the young fighter.
“The one you usually see, but this time it’s all business. I’m not going to run after him,” said Bozy when asked what kind of Boots Ennis fans will see on Saturday night in his rematch with Chukhadzhian. “He’s going to cut the ring on it.
“But if you cut the ring on someone, but if he is trained to survive, it will always be difficult to get him. Once you cut the ring, he will catch you and bind you anyway. So, you must be smart, use a lot of fakes, and do a lot of different things that you haven’t done before.
“I hope he will be a stationary target this time because it would not be a problem for us,” said Bozy who wanted Chukhadzhian to stay to be there for Boots Ennis to hit on Saturday. “If you come to fight, we fight. If you want to dance, we want to dance with him.”
Chukhadzhian will not stand still because he is not physically equipped for that kind of battle against Boots Ennis. If Chukhadzhian had the power of julian jackson, he happily stands his ground and drops Boots’ head on his shoulders. It is not the reality of the station. So, Karen has to use her technical skills to make Boots look like he’s fighting with two left feet, and his stock will go down once again.
