At the beginning of the year, Ukrainian welterweight Karen Chukhadzhyan (21-2, 11 KOs) shamed fans and bookmakers – he went the whole distance with the formidable American Jaron Ennis (30-0, 27 KOs), but lost by a crushing decision of the judges. At stake was the vacant interim IBF title.
By
opinion Ukrainian, Ennis is not the coolest contender in this weight: “I would really like to box with Virgil Ortiz as well. I am very interested in this option, because Ortiz has a 100% knockout win rate. After I had the fight with Jaron, I can say with confidence that Virgil is stronger. But you still need to remember that they are stylistically very different. Ortiz is a pure aggressor, but Ennis can do much more. He knows how to counter, he is not averse to hacking. It’s more versatile, more versatile.”
Interestingly, the other day another Ukrainian – Taras Shelestyuk – challenged Virgil Ortiz. Chukhadzhyan believes that Ennis underestimated him slightly: “He thought that I would fly into a knockout before the 3rd round.” And an expert from the United States paid tribute to the Ukrainian: “Ennis beat a very difficult fighter.”
