IBF number one welterweight contender Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis 29-0 (27) is fast closing in on a world title shot but he has one more hurdle to get over first.
The undefeated 25-year-old from Philadelphia is on the verge of challenging Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr 28-0 (22), who holds the IBF, WBC and WBA world titles at 147-pounds.
Before that bout can come to fruition though, Ennis will need to get past IBF number four contender Karen Chukhadzhian 21-1 (11) at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC on January 7.
The fight will be the main support bout to the 12-round lightweight clash between Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis 27-0 (25) and Hector Luis Garcia 16-0 (10).
“I feel like Errol Spence Jr would fight me,” Ennis said. “I’m going in there with the intention of winning the [IBF] interim title [against Chukhadzhian], then fighting Errol next. I think we can make it happen.”
Ukrainian Karen Chukhadzhian, 26, is a largely unknown commodity in the United States. His first 16 fights took place in his homeland, followed by two bouts in Russia. After that he relocated to Germany, where his last four contests have taken place.
Perhaps the best known name on his ledger is former three-time lightweight world title challenger Ali Funeka, who he defeated on points over eight rounds at 150-pounds five years ago.
It comes as little surprise that Team Ennis have not seen much of their opponent.
“I haven’t watched any footage of my opponent but my team has been watching him. We have a game plan for what he does well,” Ennis said.
“I’m definitely excited to have people coming from Philly down to DC for the fight. It’s only a couple hours away, so you’ll definitely hear Philly in the building.
“It doesn’t matter where we’re fighting at, I’m going to train just as hard. We prepare for every single fight like it’s a world title fight.
“I’ve just been watching a lot of Mike Tyson myself. He put a lot of punches together. Triple, doubles, same hands, lots of knockouts. He didn’t see too many late rounds. I’ve been watching him a lot this camp.
“I’m training all year round. The holidays don’t affect the schedule. I eat good, my weight is on point and everything is good. My last day off was on Christmas, but that’s only because Sunday is my normal day off. If it was on a Saturday, I would have trained.
“I’ll move up to 154 pounds at some point for sure. I’m strong and I can move up and down if I have to. I’ll fight anyone at 154 or 147.
“It’s safe to say we’re looking to have a short night on January 7.”
Ennis’ father and trainer Derrick ‘Bozy’ Ennis admitted he doesn’t study tapes either.
“We don’t change up the preparation much fight by fight. We just keep trying to work harder and harder. We’re just putting in the work,” the senior Ennis said.
“I don’t watch the opponents, I let Jaron’s brothers do that. I watch the first round of the fight and then I go from there. If you start looking at one fighter too much, you can get into a bad situation if they get hurt and have to be replaced. We train to face any kind of style.
“We took our time. We’ve waited around. The only thing holding us up is that we knew Spence was the mandatory, but we knew he was working on the fight with Terence Crawford. We’re definitely looking to fight three times next year now.”
