It was great to be back at the Wells Fargo Arena to see the hometown kid Jaron “Boots” Ennis fighting for his Philly fan base again. Boots is loved by the city, and I was interested in seeing if he could send the fans home happy again.
The undercard had some hometown kids show out, as Super Bantamweight prospect Dennis Thompson stopped Edgar Ortiz Jr. in two rounds, and Welterweight Ismail Muhammad scored a unanimous decision victory over Nelson Morales
Main Card Highlights
The main card kicked off with the return of Austin “Ammo” Williams taking on Gian Garrido. The last time we saw Ammo, he was stopped in brutal fashion by Hamzah Sheeraz. It was only right to wonder how Ammo would look coming back from that. He was a little fidgety and restless at times in the fight but eventually turned up the volume and got Garrido out of there in the fifth round. A good victory for Ammo as he looks to climb his way back up to title contention in the middleweight division.
Next up was young Light Heavyweight prospect Khalil Coe, taking on Manuel Gallegos. Gallegos was last seen a year and a half ago at 168 against Diego Pacheco, who stopped Gallegos in the fourth round. Given the layoff and the move up in weight, one would only think that Coe would be able to put on a performance that gave us something to talk about. Well, he did just that… but not in an effective way.
Coe started off aggressively and tried to line up Gallegos with some winging uppercuts. While he had some success, Gallegos was able to weather the storm. By the fourth round, Gallegos turned the tide on Coe, whose conditioning (or lack thereof) started to rear its ugly head. Gallegos pressured Coe and unloaded a barrage of heavy punches (including several to the body) that sent him to the canvas multiple times. By the ninth round, it was clear that Coe did not have much left, and the ref waved off the fight after another knockdown.
Ray Ford’s Dominance
Next up was the return of Ray Ford. This was now the third time we have seen Ford this year, coming off back-to-back fight-of-the-year candidates with Otabek Kholmatov and Nick Ball. This time he made his debut at 130 against Orlando Gonzalez.
Nicknamed “Savage,” Ford fought like one, blitzing Gonzalez multiple times with a barrage of power punches and dropping him twice with sharp hooks. Ford brought power up with him to 130, and although he could not seem to put the finishing touch on it and stop Gonzalez, it was still an incredibly good performance. He put a hurting on Gonzalez and walked away with a wide unanimous decision.
Co-Main Event: Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez Shine
The co-main event saw Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez defend his newly won WBC Super Flyweight title against Pedro Guevara. Guevara is a crafty veteran who has given good work to numerous top-level fighters. He is no pushover.
But Bam is so special, he made Pedro look like one. From the opening bell, Bam put pressure on Guevara, attacking him numerous times to the body. In the third round, Bam dropped Pedro with a sharp left hand, then followed it up with a nice uppercut that sent Guevara down for the count. A dominant performance by Bam, who is showing every fight why he is special.
Main Event: Boots vs. Karen 2
And now it was time for the main event: Jaron Ennis vs. Karen Chukhadzhian Part 2. Jaron won the first fight, but many were not happy with his performance against Karen as stoppage was expected. Instead, Boots chased Karen around for twelve rounds en route to a very boring unanimous decision. Fans were curious if he could adjust to get Karen out of there this time around.
The real change, however, was made by Karen, who made it a point to stand in the pocket. This was Boots’ wheelhouse, but Karen stood his ground and did not wilt. Not only did he not fade, but he was giving just as good as he was taking. Karen landed multiple shots on Boots, including a couple of hard hooks. Ennis did not look fazed, kept pressuring Karen, and dropped him in the fifth round.
Karen survived the onslaught, though, and kept going blow-for-blow with Boots. It was another fight where Ennis took too many punches but managed to get in plenty of his own offense. Although this was a much better and more entertaining fight, Boots failed to get the stoppage and had to settle for another unanimous decision victory.
Post-Fight Reflections
In the post-fight press conference, Boots told the media that he was not pleased with his performance and that he believed the weight cut took a lot out of him. Ennis said it might be time for him to finally move up to 154. Eddie Hearn said he would speak to Boots and his team to discuss the possibilities of staying at welterweight longer. They would like to unify with one of the other champions at 147, but if not, then a move up to 154 would be imminent.
Only time will tell what the future holds for Boots. The crowd was into the fight and very entertained, so you could say the night was still a success. Until next time…
