Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, two of boxing’s rising stars, will defend their titles on the same card Nov. 9 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn announced Friday.
Ennis (32-0, 28 KOs), ESPN’s No. 1-ranked welterweight, will put his IBF welterweight title on the line against Karen Chukhadzhian in a 12-round bout. The fight will be a rematch of their January 2023 bout, when Ennis swept the scorecards in a dominant decision victory.
A native of Philadelphia, Ennis will be making his second straight appearance at the Wells Fargo Center following a fifth-round TKO victory over David Avanesyan in July. He signed a multifight deal with Matchroom earlier this year.
Chukhadzhian (24-2, 13 KOs) has won three straight fights since his loss to Ennis.
Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs), who is No. 7 on ESPN’s pound-for-pound rankings, will defend his WBC junior bantamweight title against Pedro Guevara, also in a 12-round bout. It will be Rodriguez’s first defense of the title, which he won in spectacular fashion by knocking out Juan Francisco Estrada in the seventh round.
Guevara (42-4-1, 22 KOs), a former junior flyweight champion and ESPN’s No. 7 junior bantamweight, will be fighting for the third time in 2024. He has won his past two bouts after dropping a close decision to Carlos Cuadras in November 2023.