Hearn/Matchroom Lose Boots Ennis-Chukhadzhian Purse Bid…Now What?

For Jaron “Boots” Ennis and promoter Eddie Hearn, there was no good news in today’s IBF purse bid. As a matter of fact, today may have been a true lose-lose for the IBF welterweight champ from Philadelphia.

According to Jake Donovan of RingTV, the promoter of IBF mandatory challenger Karen Chukhadzhian, P2M-Box Promotion, has won the promotional rights to Ennis’ second defense of the full IBF 147 lb. title. The Germany-based promotional company won with a bid of $2,000,053.10, while Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing came up over $430,000 short with a runner-up bid of $1,566,666.

Boots’ Options

All of this means one of two things:

1) Ennis will have to defend his IBF title against Chukhadzhian– in a rematch of a scorecard-dominant, but excruciatingly anticlimactic (dull) January, 2023 showing that legitimately scuffed up some of his superstar shine– on a P2M-Box show.

OR

2) Ennis will vacate his IBF title and officially move up to junior middleweight

As of this writing, Hearn has yet to make a public statement regarding his plans. However, as recently as a couple of days ago, the UK promoter made it clear that a move up to 154 for Ennis was a distinct possibility

“Let’s see how the purse bid goes,” Hearn told iFL.TV. “I also have no problem with Boots moving to 154 lbs. I love the fight…We reached out to [Serhii] Bohachuk..I think that’s a great fight. You’ve got Israil Madrimov. You’ve got some great fights at 154, outside of the champions. Would love to fight a champion [too]. But we’ve got some decisions to make over the next 72 hours.”

Well, everyone’s seen how the purse bid went. Those decisions now have to be made.

Boots’ Busted Dreams

Ennis, meanwhile, had made it abundantly clear that welterweight unification was his primary goal after signing a multi-fight deal with Matchroom Promotions back in April. As a matter of fact, the road to next-level stardom was supposed to be paved through a welterweight unification which, ultimately, Hearn could not provide.

In an attempt to maneuver around the mandatory IBF title defense, Hearn did try to find a unification bout for Ennis that the sanctioning body would allow to supersede their mandated fight. WBC and WBA titlists Mario Barrios and Eimantas Stanionis, respectively, reportedly had no interest in talking with Hearn. Talks with WBO champ Brian Norman Jr., meanwhile, dragged on for over two weeks before eventually breaking down over $500K.

The loss of the unification meant a return to the Chukhadzhian reality and, likely, an end to Ennis’ dreams of welterweight glory.

“I want to collect these belts. I’m just frustrated,” Ennis told YSM Sports Media back when the Norman talks hit their first snag. “I don’t want to have no backward fights. My whole thing is to be undisputed [at 147] and collect these belts…My mindset is focused on the WBC, WBO and WBA. I want to collect these belts…I want to be undisputed.”

Rough Road Ahead, Event At 154

Ennis’ road to 154 unification may also be a bit rough. WBC/WBO champ Sebastian Fundora has been ordered to face WBA and interim WBO champ Terence Crawford (who has flat-out refused a Boots Ennis fight in the fairly recent past) while IBF titlist Bakhram Murtazaliev is reportedly set to face Tim Tszyu next.

All of this begs the questions of how and why Hearn did not have a firm contingency plan for this Chukhadzhian situation, especially considering that it was an imminent and impending buzzkill since May, when the mobile and awkward Ukrainian won an IBF eliminator guaranteeing next dibs on Boots.

Another question is why Hearn/Matchroom, supposedly desperate to appease Ennis and his wishes, only bid about 40% of what they did in April, when Ennis-Cody Crowley was ordered by the IBF and they won the bid with a $3.9 million offer.

The answer to that question may be simple– the Crowley fight (which became a David Avanesyan fight when Crowley withdrew due to medical issues) was Ennis’ first with Matchroom and part of the first-step promise to build him into a superstar. This Chukhadzhian bout is Ennis’ second and there’s simply not that much of a need to razzle-dazzle a fighter already under contract.

As Hearn said, decisions will have to be made.

Stay Tuned…