Eddie Hearn is less than pleased with Jaron Ennis being ordered by the IBF to defend his title against mandatory challenger Karen Chukhadzhian. With potential massive fights with the likes of Mario Barrios and Terence Crawford on the horizon, Hearn believes a clash with Chukhadzhian is a step backwards.
Ennis became the interim IBF welterweight champion after he defeated Chukhadzhian via decision in January 2023. Later that year, Crawford was stripped of his IBF welterweight title, due to him pursuing a rematch with Errol Spence Jr. instead of fighting ‘Boots’, who was his mandatory challenger at the time.
Following Crawford’s stripping, Ennis was awarded the official IBF welterweight title, which he successfully defended against David Avanesyan on July 13 this year.
The Matchroom Boxing chairman was interviewed by Boxing News following recent reports that ‘Boots’ had been ordered to rematch Chukhadzhian. He said:
“I want to make one thing clear, I see some comments about Jaron Ennis, the mandatory has been called. I’m not over the moon about it, because it’s a good fighter in Chukhadzhian, but it’s someone that he’s boxed before. There’s nothing we can do in terms of the mandatory that’s been called. But we want to make the biggest fights out there, so it’s frustrating. If it’s a fight that has to be ticked off quickly, well, we’ll do it. But we want big fights for Jaron Ennis.”
Eddie Hearn explains why Turki Alalshikh didn’t like him at first
Turki Alalshikh is without doubt the most powerful man in boxing right now, having played an instrumental role in scheduling several of boxing’s biggest fights since 2023. He helped organize Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou, Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua vs. Ngannou.
But Alalshikh has distanced himself from some of the sport’s big names, including Canelo Alvarez and even Eddie Hearn momentarily, according to the Matchroom Boxing chairman.
During his recent appearance on the Cigar Talk podcast, Hearn explained that his lack of interest in the Fury vs. Ngannou fight caused Alalshikh much annoyance. He said:
“I did one of the most stupid things I’ve ever done, but unfortunately if you ask me questions, I’m pretty honest. I really didn’t speak favorably about Fury-Ngannou. [Alalshikh] is putting on this event, and there’s this big promoter who used to work with these other guys, now he’s slagging off Fury-Ngannou. Slowly, I’m coming down the order of ‘Flavor of the Month’ with [Alalshikh].”
