Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis now has a hard deadline to avoid an undesirable mandatory title defense.

The Ring has confirmed that the IBF has scheduled a Sept. 3 purse bid hearing for Ennis’ ordered welterweight title fight versus Karen Chukhadzhian. The development comes as the unbeaten Philadelphia native is negotiating a unification bout with WBO titleholder Brian Norman Jr.

Whatever progress has been made between the pair of undefeated titleholders will have to escalate prior to the purse bid. A delay can be requested but it would have to be agreed upon by both sides.

The fight was ordered on July 31. The lack of discussion between titleholder and second-time challenger suggests little to no talks have taken place in this matchup. Ennis (31-0, 28 knockouts), The Ring’s No. 1 rated welterweight, is promoted by Matchroom Boxing. Ukraine’s Chukhadzhian (24-2, 13 KOs) is with Germany-based outfit P2M Box-Promotion.

Should the bout move forward, it would come as a rematch to Ennis’ twelve-round shutout over Chukhadzhian  last Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C. Ennis won by scores of 120-108 on all three cards to claim the interim IBF welterweight title. It was his first distance fight in six years, while the lone career defeat for Chukhadzhian.

Ennis then defended the belt in a ninth-round stoppage of Roiman Villa last July 8 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It came three weeks prior to Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford’s full unification technical knockout win over Errol Spence last July 29 in Las Vegas.

Crawford was ordered to face Ennis in a title consolidation bout. The 30-day period elapsed with zero talks having taken place. Crawford’s legal team informed the IBF just before the 30-day deadline that they could not commit to the assignment. A contractually bound rematch clause exercised by Spence left The Ring’s No. 3-rated pound-for-pound fighter in a jam.

Ennis was subsequently named full IBF titlist. One defense has followed, a fifth-round knockout of David Avanesyan. Their July 13 DAZN headliner marked Ennis’ DAZN debut and first fight at home in Philly since 2018.

Meanwhile, Chukhadzhian made his way back to the number-one slot in the IBF. The 28-year-old contender from Kiev earned a clear-cut points win over England’s Harry Scarff in a May 17 IBF title eliminator in Rothenbaum, Germany. The win was his third in a row.

Matchroom has a tentative date set aside—Nov. 9—for Ennis’ next DAZN headliner. A second fight with Chukhadzhian is a hard sell.

A title unification bout with Norman, however, has invigorated social media timelines.

The first round of talks began earlier this month, but the two sides were far apart on money. Brunch Boxing’s Matthew “Mimosa” Brown reported that the gap was narrowed considerably from Matchroom’s follow-up offer.

Norman (26-0, 20 KOs), No. 5 at 147 by The Ring, has enough leverage to where Matchroom might have to make a devil’s deal. However, the unbeaten WBO welterweight titleholder would not be without an option if the fight doesn’t happen next. The payday wouldn’t be quite the same, but—as reported by The Ring—the failsafe is a slot on Keyshawn Davis’ No. 8 homecoming card in Norfolk, Virginia.

It would mark the worst case scenario from all this, but would still put Ennis and Norman on the same timeline. Their fights would land one night apart, which could be used to further build momentum towards a desirable unification bout.

That said, most in the industry are rooting for a drastic turn of events between now and Sept. 3.

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