Jaron “Boots” Ennis’ Road To Stardom Hits a Pothole. Is Hearn To Blame For Mandatory Buzzkill?

Jaron “Boots” Ennis vs. Karen Chukhadzhian, Part 2.

That’s the next fight on promoter Eddie Hearn’s march to build Ennis into a boxing superstar.

Really?

Back in April, Hearn made big news when he signed the IBF welterweight titlist to a multi-fight promotional deal.

“Wow – What a signing!” Hearn exclaimed at the time, amazed at himself. “I’ve watched this young man for many years, and I always believed he would become a pound-for-pound great, and I have no doubt he is already the greatest fighter in the division. To win the race to sign Jaron is a massive coup for Matchroom Boxing and DAZN.

“Holding the IBF title in one of boxing’s glamour divisions places Jaron front and center for some of the biggest fights out there in the sport, and we plan to deliver them for him.”

Well, this latest “delivery” is a bit like getting a pound of used kitty litter from Door Dash instead of your Chick-fil-A.

In fairness to Hearn, the Chukhadzhian rematch has, apparently, been ordered by the IBF– for some crazy and totally baseless reason.

The Ukraine native is 3-0 against very “meh” opposition since he lost every second of every round to Ennis back in January of 2023, in Ennis’ most forgettable and un-noteworthy performance.

“The mandatory has been called, and I’m not over the moon about it because — it’s a good fighter in Chukhadzhian but it’s someone that he’s boxed before,” Hearn told Boxing News. “There’s nothing we can do in terms of the mandatory that’s been called, but we want to make the biggest fights out there.

“So it’s frustrating. If it’s a fight that has to be ticked off quickly, well, we’ll do it. But we want big fights for Conor Benn and particularly for Jaron Ennis. Maybe they fight each other.”

One possible way around the mandatory is if a unification bout can be made. The IBF might then allow for the mandatory defense to be pushed back.

“The plan for Boots, unquestionably, is to be in unification fights,” Hearn asserted. “I’ve made a substantial offer to [WBC welterweight champ] Mario Barrios to fight Jaron Ennis, let’s see what he says.”

In a recent article, Boxingscene’s Lance Pugmire, however, has thrown some shady over Hearn’s shine.

“We have a different opinion over what constitutes a ‘substantial’ offer,” Pugmire quoted an unnamed boxing official ‘familiar with the situation.’ “Eddie’s talking out of his (rear) to cover (it) with the Ennis’.”

One thing is for certain, though– nobody, other than Chukhadzhian, wants to see Ennis-Chukhadzhian 2. And Hearn’s inability to navigate around this gigantic pothole in Ennis’ road to stardom has to be considered a major fail.

Back in their first meeting, the mobile and awkward Ukrainian had fans wondering aloud whether Boots was, really, a main stage fighter after all. The Philly fighter won every round, but could never do any real damage to his elusive opponent. The angle for the second fight may center around Ennis’ ability to put the negative Chukhadzhian down this time around.

That’s not much of a promotional angle.

In Ennis’ first fight under the Matchroom banner, he faced another uninspiring B-side in David Avanesyan (who was a late replacement for a somewhat less uninspiring Cody Crowley).

The fairly mediocre matchup could be forgiven as Hearn’s common sense decision to bring Ennis home to Philadelphia resulted in over 14,000 fans packing the Wells Fargo Center.

But, this time around?

Some might rightfully question whether Hearn may be too involved in glad-handing the Saudis and courting Canelo Alvarez to devote enough time to the labor-intensive task of promoting Ennis to stardom.

Hell, given his (lack of) track record, some might rightfully question Hearn’s ability to build any American star.