In defense of Jaron Ennis’ defense

For weeks Jaron “Boots” Ennis will have prepared to win a no-win situation while ignoring the collective sigh of fans, each of them as frustrated as him to have to endure what was set to take place. He would have considered how to make the best of a less-than-ideal situation and how to beat his opponent, Karen Chukhadzhian, in a way that was both different from and an improvement on last time. Last time, of course, Ennis had beaten Chukhadzhian by unanimous decision, winning every round, which meant the only way to better that result was by now stopping Chukhadzhian in their rematch. 

This Ennis tried to do on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. He tried to do it in round one, when he attacked Chukhadzhian with an urgency he lacked in fight one, and he proceeded to try it in every one of the 11 rounds to follow. Not only that, Chukhadzhian, having soon sensed Ennis’ urgency, tried to secure a stoppage of his own, often punching between the American’s wild attacks and forcing him to restart them, if not rethink them. 

It was, because of this dynamic, a vast improvement on their fight of nearly two years ago. That night Chukhadzhian seemed reluctant to engage and almost overawed by the occasion, whereas this time he detected early on the recklessness of Ennis and attempted to use this to his advantage. In round one, for example, he knocked the favorite off balance with a right hand to the side of the head. He then caught Ennis again in the second when, moments after being hurt by him, he realised the IBF welterweight champion was getting carried away and therefore vulnerable to being counterpunched.  

Ennis, it was clear, wanted to impress, make a statement. He took risks a fighter tends to take only when certain of victory – if not the manner of it – and he put himself in harm’s way in the hope of having Chukhadzhian open up and present him with an opportunity to get the finish he desired. Orthodox at first, Ennis would eventually switch to southpaw in round three, shortly after which he found himself caught with more regularity by Chukhadzhian’s right hand. By round five, in fact, the Philadelphia crowd, all there to support Ennis, had become rather subdued, their silence an indication of Chukhadzhian’s growing presence in the fight. Yet it was also in that round, the fifth, that Ennis had his biggest moment, catching Chukhadzhian with a short left inside which staggered the Ukrainian and ultimately led to him taking a knee. There was at that point a minute to go in the round and Ennis had finally got his breakthrough. It seemed now only a matter of time before he achieved the result he both wanted and needed. 

Instead, with Chukhadzhian brave enough to continue, and Ennis desperate enough to give him hope, the fight started to flip back and forth in its second half. In the eighth round they traded freely and Chukhadzhian, growing in confidence, again landed his right hand in between shots from Ennis. He then landed an even bigger right, a short one on the inside, in round 10, which Ennis, to his credit, took well. 

By round 12, we could see that Chukhadzhian had not only warmed up, but also now believed he could turn things around and win the fight. He rattled off an impressive combination halfway through the round which managed to rock back the head of Ennis and had him wanting to tie Chukhadzhian up. It was Chukhadzhian, too, who finished the fight on top, picking and landing the better punches as the clock ticked down. 

Never at any stage was there a sense that Ennis would lose the fight; he was the one busier, the one mostly in control, and the one responsible for the majority of the eye-catching punches. Yet the fight was undoubtedly closer than their first encounter and of the fighters involved it was Chukhadzhian who showed the greater improvement from fight one to fight two. Some, in fact, may argue that by virtue of Chukhadzhian improving, and doing better in the return, there is an inclination to be down on Ennis or judge him harshly for not winning more conclusively – or indeed ending – a fight very few expressed an interest in seeing in the first place. There is a danger, too, of ignoring how the collective indifference going into the fight may have impacted Ennis’ performance as well. After all, it cannot be easy to find motivation to do something you have (a) already done before and (b) been led to believe nobody wants to see. This, make no mistake, was neither a rematch deserved nor demanded (by anyone but the IBF), and of that Ennis, now 33-0 (29), would have been acutely aware. If able to then stay fully focused, and just the right amount scared, he is a stronger and better man than most. 

More likely Ennis went into Saturday’s title defense knowing the challenge was to finish Chukhadzhian more so than just beat him (as would have been the aim of fight one). This would probably explain the urgency and aggression on the part of Ennis and also why Chukhadzhian, now 24-3 (13), was able to exploit holes in Ennis’ defence during these moments of urgency and aggression. For Ennis, you see, winning was not enough. Winning, in fact, was to his mind already a given, and to now do better than win he needed to run the risk of losing – either the fight or a little of his lustre and reputation. 

As it turned out, it was the latter he sacrificed rather than the former; the preferred outcome, you might say. What is more, boxing history would suggest that sometimes a subpar performance can become a fighter’s most important performance, particularly when looking to secure bigger fights against bigger names who might otherwise elect to go down different paths. Someone like Terence Crawford, for example, is a man Ennis and his team have been targeting for a while, yet would appear on recent form to be a level above Ennis, certainly in terms of experience and defense. If this was only a suspicion before Ennis’ fight with Chukhadzhian, now Crawford and his backers may feel they have enough proof of the disparity between them to green light the fight and allow it to happen next year. 

There will be other welterweights who look at Ennis’ most recent win the same way too. They will see the punches he took, and the rounds he threw away, and see an opportunity to beat and dethrone him in the future. 

Yet what is defense in the end if not a fear of what is coming back at you? It might not be fear in the purest sense of the word, for all boxers claim to be fearless, but surely a boxer needs to feel something in order to properly protect themselves and guarantee they are as close to perfect as can be. Without that feeling, one is liable to take chances, take punches, and take things for granted – yes, even in a boxing ring. 

“When you’re fighting bottom-tier guys, sometimes you can’t get up for them,” Ennis said after Saturday’s fight. “When I fight top guys, I’m going to be way better. I need top guys.”

Whether you think Terence Crawford is the perfect next opponent for Jaron Ennis or a step too far, there is one certainty to it all: he would give Jaron Ennis what Errol Spence gave Terence Crawford last year. He would, in other words, provide him with that little bit of fear he now requires; the fear he lacked against Karen Chukhadzhian, and David Avanesyan before that. It won’t be enough to have him shaking in his boots, no, but it will be enough to have Ennis pull up his socks and ensure he actually puts the boots on.