Jaron Ennis didn’t get a knockout but his victory was decisive on the Gervonta Davis-Hector Luis Garcia card Saturday in Washington, D.C.
The hard-punching welterweight contender defeated a reluctant Karen Chukhadzhian by a shutout decision in a 12-round bout, which snapped Ennis’ knockout streak at 19.
All three judges scored it 120-108, 12 round to none. Boxing Junkie had Ennis winning 119-109.
“We come here to dominate,” he said. “I feel like I could have thrown more punches. I should stop that guy and that’s on me. I wanted him to engage but we did what we could.”
Ennis (30-0, 27 KOs) stalked Chukadzhian (21-2, 11 KOs) the entire fight and landed many more punches than the Ukrainian did.
However, Chukadzhian, a clever, athletic boxer, was more committed to surviving than winning, which made it difficult for Ennis to score another stoppage.
Ennis would land a punch, maybe two — some of them hard — and then Chukadzhian used his quick feet to run from further trouble. Plus, Chukadzhian took Ennis’ best shots.
That was the story of the fight.
Chukadzhian stood his ground on occasion, landing eye-catching shots here and there, but he didn’t do enough to win a single round on the judges’ scorecards.
Of course, Ennis had hoped to make a stronger statement on the high-profile card but he won convincingly and took another step toward his first title shot.
“Everyone knows that I want [unified titleholder] Errol Spence and the winner of Virgil Ortiz and [Eimantas] Stanionis, you know, all the top guys. Let’s get it, you know?
“I’ll wait until the time is right and [Spence] is ready.”