Jaron Ennis, Jesse Rodriguez cruise to wins to retain titles - ESPN

Jaron «Boots» Ennis retained his IBF welterweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Karen Chukhadzhian in a rematch Saturday night in Philadelphia.

Ennis, who is from Philadelphia, was fighting at home for the second consecutive outing. Unlike in that July bout, however, Ennis failed to impress with a decision win over Chukhadzhian.

The scores were 119-107, 117-109 and 116-110.

Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) dropped Chukhadzhian in Round 5 with a series of body shots. But Ennis was never on the verge of finishing his opponent. He was the -5000 favorite, according to ESPN BET.

Ennis scored a shutout decision over Chukhadzhian during their January 2023 meeting, a fight that didn't warrant a rematch.

But the IBF, known for its curious rankings and strict enforcement of mandatory fights, ordered Ennis to fight Chukhadzhian again once he rose to the top ranking at 147 pounds.

Ennis was coming off a fifth-round TKO of David Avanesyan in July.

Ukraine's Chukhadzhian (24-3, 13 KOs) won three consecutive confidence-building fights after the 2023 loss to Ennis, including a unanimous decision over Harry Scarff in May.

Rodriguez TKOs Guevara in three

Jesse «Bam» Rodriguez retained his WBC 115-pound title with a third-round TKO victory over Pedro Guevara.

Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) floored Guevara with a combination in Round 3 and then finished him with a right uppercut at 2:47 of the frame.

«I'm pretty happy [with my performance], but I already kind of knew it was going to happen that way,» Rodriguez said. «I really thought he was going to stand there and fight a little bit more, but right from the beginning, he was moving. You saw tonight who I am.»

Rodriguez is ESPN's No. 7 pound-for-pound boxer. He scored the biggest win of his