Boots and Bam Win in Philly

Boots and Bam Win in Philly

Second time arounds can be difficult.

Hometown hero Jaron “Boots” Ennis squeezed by familiar foe Karen Chukhadzhian and Philadelphia discovered why all the buzz about Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez with his blazing knockout victory on Saturday.

Two for one Philly. Two for one.

IBF welterweight titlist Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) found Chukhadzhian (24-3) more difficult the second time around but emerged the winner again in front of more than 10,000 fans at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pa.

The Philly fighter Ennis looked ready to knock the stuffing out of Chukhadzhian in the rematch. Instead, the Ukrainian fighter made good on his promise to show a different approach and a different result from their first encounter dominated by Ennis 11 months ago.

It was a blast this time.

Chukhadzhian came out blazing with left hooks and shifty angles that caught Ennis by surprise from the first round. A good thing the champion can take a good punch.

Ennis, 27, seemed more frustrated than confused by the more offensive approach of the Ukrainian. Instead of running away from the action the Ukrainian was countering and punching in-between the champion’s combos. Both got hit and both kept punching.

In the fifth round Ennis erupted with a lethal combination including a right uppercut and down went Chukhadzhian. It was only Ennis’ incredible reflexes that helped refrain from unloaded a rocket right while the Ukrainian was on one knee.

It seemed the end was near but instead of folding like an old banana the Ukrainian fighter cranked it up and the fight resumed.

Though the Ukrainian fighter resorted to hitting and holding and was deducted a point for excessive grappling in the 10^th round, he kept firing while Ennis seemed to wane in the last three rounds.

It was a tremendous showing for Chukhadzhian but fell short of winning as three judges saw Ennis the winner 119-107, 117-109, 116-110.

“I was prepared for anything coming,” said Ennis. “I wanted to get the knockout.”

Bam Wins

In the co-main boxing’s youngest world champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (21-0, 14 KOs) became the first to knock out Mexico’s Pedro Guevara (43-5-1, 22 KOs) and retained the WBC super fly title.

Rodriguez, 24, pressured the veteran contender Guevara immediately and fired from various angles that forced the challenger to exchange. That was the first sign that the Mexican fighter was not going to be able to hit and move.

In the third round it seemed Rodriguez had figured out Guevara and moved in for the kill. He had promised to be the first to knock out the Mexican fighter and then opened up with a withering attack that saw both exchange with Rodriguez’s left cross connecting. It took Guevara two seconds later to collapse from the effect of the blow. He got up, and Rodriguez moved in with a feint and two blows then unleashing a hidden right uppercut that Guevara never saw.

Down went Guevara and he wasn’t getting up at 2:47 of the third round.

“I kind of already knew it was going to happen that way,” said Rodriguez of the knockout win. “I thought he was going to stand in there.”

Other Bouts

Former featherweight world titlist Raymond Ford (16-1-1, 8 KOs) rebooted as a super featherweight with a one-sided unanimous decision over Puerto Rico’s Orlando Gonzalez (23-3, 13 KOs) after 10 rounds at super featherweight.

Ford looks stronger at 130 pounds.

Ford floored Gonzalez twice with sizzling right hooks in the battle between southpaws. After dominating most of the first eight rounds Ford was forced to chase Gonzalez who refused to engage the last two rounds. After 10 rounds all three judges favored Ford 100-98 twice and 99-89.

Mexican light heavyweight Manuel Gallegos (21-2-1, 18 KOs) upset undefeated Khalil Coe (9-1-1, 7 KOs) dropping the American prospect four times before ending it in the ninth round.

Body shots by Gallegos broke down Coe’s defense who was a 20-1 favorite going into the fight. The taller Mexican fighter absorbed big shots to target Coe’s body and that proved the difference.

“I felt good, I felt strong at 175 pounds,” said Gallegos whose last fight was a loss to Diego Pacheco.

Ammo Williams (17-1, 12 KOs) returned to the win column with a blazing fifth round stoppage over Gian Garrido (11-2, 8 KOs) in a middleweight fight. In William’s last fight he lost to Hamzah Sheeraz last June in Riyadh.

Photo credit: Mark Robinson / Matchroom

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