Teddy Atlas Breaks Down Jaron Ennis vs Karen Chukhadzhian

The IBF world welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis returns to the ring tonight and all eyes are on Philadelphia.

He puts his title on the line there at the Wells Fargo Arena tonight against gifted Ukrainian Karen Chukhadzhian.

Speaking on the fight on his own podcast Atlas said:

“Jaron Ennis is favored by the guys at MyBookie with odds of -$5,000, while Karen is listed at +$1,050. That’s quite a spread. What are you looking for in this fight? Well, we already have a template, a blueprint of what to expect—at least we think we do, because it’s a rematch.

In the first fight, obviously, Jaron Ennis won, and he won pretty handily. Karen, whose real name is Karen (for simplicity, I’ll just call him that), is 24-2. He’s never been stopped. He’s 28 years old, from Ukraine, and has 13 knockouts. He’s a talented guy, very skilled, and has a difficult style. He uses his legs a lot—part of that is because he figured he couldn’t stand toe-to-toe with Ennis, and that’s what makes him a tough opponent. He’s got wheels—great movement around the ring.

Now, in the first fight, Karen moved well and survived. He was evasive, but at times, the focus seemed to be more on survival than on winning. He jabbed, he worked, but he wasn’t really aggressive enough. When you’re in there with a guy like Ennis, you can’t just focus on surviving—you have to figure out how to win. There’s a balance to strike: you have to be smart, but also take risks. Ennis is a strong, complete fighter—he’s good at everything: going to the body, controlling range, defense, offense, counterpunching, and pressing the action when needed. He’s a lot like Tank Davis, in that sense. He’s a very complete fighter, and Ennis is huge for a welterweight. He’s probably going to move up in weight eventually, too.

For Karen, the key this time is figuring out how much he’s willing to risk. In the first fight, he spent a lot of energy just surviving. This time, he’s got to ask himself: How much will I focus on surviving, and how much on winning? It means taking more risks. As Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry would say, a man must know his limitations. Karen has to recognize that he can’t just stand there and trade punches with Ennis. But he can’t just run either. He’s got to find a balance—move, give angles, use the ring, but also be prepared to attack when he gets the chance.

If Karen can find that balance—staying on the move but also engaging when needed—he’ll have a better chance of making the fight more competitive. He’ll have to be smarter in his movement and not just focus on getting away. That means stepping, not just floating, and being ready to punch when the opportunity arises. It’s about combining defense with offense. If he just survives, he has no chance of winning.

On the other hand, if Karen tries to take too many risks, Ennis might stop him. Ennis is a great body puncher, and I think he’ll focus on that more this time. Using the jab to control the pace and distance will be key for Ennis, as it was in the first fight. He’ll jab to the chest, not just the head, to keep Karen on the outside and off-balance. When he can, he’ll go to the body, trying to drain Karen’s energy.

If Karen adopts a smart strategy—stepping, punching, moving with purpose—he’ll have a better chance to at least make it more competitive than their first meeting. But this approach also gives Ennis more opportunities to work the body and potentially stop him. It’s a tough ask, but if Karen can find the right combination of movement and offense, he could make it a more interesting fight.

At the end of the day, I think this fight will go the distance again. I’m picking Ennis to win, but I’m not laying $5,000 on it. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a prop bet for the over/under, but right now I don’t see one. If the over/under does get posted closer to fight time, the line will probably be set high, since the first fight went the distance.

By the way, do we have the official scores for the first fight?

(After a moment)

Yeah, it was 120-108 on all three scorecards for Ennis. So, we’re not likely to see a repeat of that kind of dominance, but it will depend on Karen’s approach—his mindset and his strategy. If he’s just thinking about surviving, he’ll never win. But if he adjusts his mentality and actually tries to beat Ennis, even if it means taking some risks, he could make it more competitive.

In the end, though, I’m still going with Ennis to win, and I’ll be looking for prop bets if they become available.”

‘Boots’ Ennis returns tonight in Philly once more but it is not an easy fight for him tonight.

It is understood Conor Benn from the UK will also be in attendance watching the fight.

Ennis is world champion and one of the best fighters in the sport that no one outside of boxing really knows about, just yet that is.