A big weekend of boxing awaits for the first weekend of January with several title fights taking place this Saturday night. One of these is for the vacant IBF World Welterweight title, which has been relinquished by Josh Taylor in August 2022. As is always the case with interim title fights, the upcoming clash between Jaron Ennis and Karen Chukhadzhyan looks to be an exciting one.
Both men have plenty to fight for, despite the fact that Jaron Ennis steps into the ring heavily favoured. Neither man has been defeated since 2015, with the only loss between the two coming in 2015 where Chukhadzyhan lost a split decision. Expect this to be a hard fought encounter as we look at the betting odds ahead of this clash with bookmaker William Hill and break down the best bets to make ahead of the first bell ringing.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: January 6th, 5:00 P.M. (EST)
Looking at the outright betting odds on this fight, you’ll be hard-pressed to see odds that are more one-sided than this. Fighting at home, Jaron Ennis is an outrageous 1.02 favourite to win, while Karen Chukhadzhyan is a longshot at 13.00. This implies that there’s a 98% chance Ennis will win this fight.
American Jaron Ennis is about as vicious of a knockout machine as you can find in boxing. Of the 29 fights the 25-year-old has fought, 27 have ended in knockouts. The last time a fighter managed to go the distance with Ennis was in 2017—since then, he has knocked out 17 men, had two retire and one no-contest. Ennis will be fired up to win this match having been deprived of the IBO World Welterweight title in 2020 due to an accidental headbutt.
Karen Chukhadzyhan, on the other hand, has 21 wins to his name, 11 of which are by knockout. The 26-year-old has been fighting professionally since 2015, with only one loss to his name in the second fight of his career. Until last year, Chukhadzyhan had only been fighting in Ukraine and Russia. Now, however, with this fight in America, it represents Chukhadzyhan’s biggest fight of his career.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: January 6th, 5:00 P.M. (EST)
Despite such a heavy discrepancy in the betting odds and a clear likely winner, there are still some excellent bets to be made on this match. The best bet to make on this fight is for Ennis to win in the first three rounds. Betting on an outright victory brings very little return, however an early Ennis win still presents the opportunity to double your money with odds of 2.10.
In his past 14 completed fights, Ennis has won within the first three rounds on 10 occasions. Only four times since 2017 have his opponents gone further than the third round, with the latest being Sergei Lipinets who made it to round six in 2021. Given that Chukhadzyhan is traveling to the United States and fighting on the biggest stage of his life, there’s a good chance that he will be overwhelmed by the occasion and dispatched early by Ennis.
