Great to be back at a Matchroom event! This time I am in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center to see the Matchroom debut of Jaron “Boots” Ennis. Looking forward to seeing him fight in front of his hometown crowd.
The night kicked off with young prospect Dennis Thompson making his pro debut at Bantamweight in his hometown against Fernando Valdez. Thompson showed good variety on offense, including a barrage of body punches. Rocked Valdez with hooks and uppercuts, Valdez is hanging in though. Thompson was in control all four rounds and cruised to an easy UD (40-36 3x).
Young welterweight Ismail Muhammad took on Frank Brown. In the opening minute, Muhammad gets dropped by Brown in an exchange of punches (which ended in a clash of heads). Ismail gets up and does well the rest of the round though. The clash of heads results in a mouse under Brown’s eye, and a cut above. Muhammad took control in the second round though, as he fought behind the jab and rocked Brown a couple times. Brown came back the next round more aggressively and made Ismail uncomfortable. Muhammad dropped Brown in the fourth with a short left cross. After 6 rounds where both fighters traded knockdowns, Ismail Muhammad was declared the winner by UD (58-54 2x, 57-55).
Christian Carto took on Carlos Buitrago. Good action in the first round, as both fighters were able to get excellent work in. Buitrago was able to successfully pressure Carto in spurts and land good shots. Carto also had some nice shoeshine combinations in between. Good second round by Carto, as he increased his work rate and landed more body punches. Carto drops Buitrago in the third with a nice uppercut and ends the round with a nice barrage of punches. The ref calls off the fight at the end of the third while Buitrago is on his stool.
Next up was Christopher Diaz taking on Derlyn Hernandez. The fight ended early, as Diaz rocked Hernandez in the second round and continued to pummel him until the ref stepped in to stop the fight. Khalil Coe taking on a replacement opponent in Kwame Ritter. The first round was rough, but the action picked up in the 2nd and Coe scored a knockdown. Then continued to pummel Ritter for the rest of the round until the ref stepped in and stopped it.
After we had WBC Featherweight champion Skye Nicolson defending her title against Dyana Vargas. This was an easy shutout for Nicolson, who styled Vargas the whole fight. Vargas has power, but she has no way of setting anything up. Skye jabbed and 1-2’d her all night. At 1 point Vargas tried to taunt Skye and call her a chicken, only for Nicolson to pop her for a hard 1-2 that stunned Vargas. Skye cruised to an easy shutout victory.
It’s the co-main event. Young welterweight Jalil Hackett steps up in opposition to take on Peter Dobson. Pete is a rugged vet who gave Conor Benn a tough time. So, it was going to be interesting to see what Hackett does. Jalil got off to a fast start, boxing up Pete very well. He was able to find a home for that left hook to land all night. However, as the fight wore on, Dobson was able to make a comeback. Not sure if Hackett gassed or just took his foot off the gas. Either way, Pete was able to take advantage and win the last couple rounds to make it even closer. Hackett was still able to leave with a unanimous decision.
Finally, we get to the main event. Jaron “Boots” Ennis defends his IBF Welterweight title against the late replacement in David Avanesyan. Ennis started off in the pocket trading with Avanesyan, and clearly getting the better of the exchanges. Boots was getting hit a bit, but his offense was overwhelming David so he could afford to take a couple punches to get his punches off. The body attack was quickly taking its toll on Avanesyan. In the fifth round, Avanesyan was finally knocked down. He got up but was served more body shots that were clearly punishing him. After the round, Avanesyan’s corner had enough and waved it off.
In the post-fight press conference, Ennis mentioned that he was not as sharp as he wanted to be due to the layoff. The ring rust definitely affected his timing, but he was still satisfied that he got the job done. Boots made it clear that he wants Crawford and is hoping that Eddie Hearn and Turki Alalshikh can make the fight happen. Only time will tell if that fight gets made, Until next time…