Karen Chukhadzhian will have promotional muscle behind his bid to secure a third title challenge.
BoxingScene has confirmed that Latvia-based EMX Sports outbid Matchroom Boxing to secure the rights to Chukhadzhian’s ordered IBF welterweight title eliminator versus Paddy Donovan. EMX won the purse bid hearing with a $311,00 submission, which outpaced Matchroom’s offer of $200,000.
The winner will become the sanctioning body’s next mandatory challenger. Its current titlist, Lewis Crocker, 22-0 (11 KOs) – also with Matchroom - is already due to face Australia’s Liam Paro, 27-1 (16 KOs) this spring in Australia.
Donovan is due 65 percent ($202,150) of the winning bid as the higher-ranked challenger. Chukhadzhian and his side are entitled to the remaining 35 percent ($108,850).
Ukraine’s Chukhadzhian, 26-3 (14 KOs), continues to remain a favorite son of the IBF, having already twice fought for its welterweight title. Both occasions came versus Jaron “Boots” Ennis and in the U.S., with Chukhadzhian dropping a pair of unanimous decisions.
Their January 2023 meeting saw Ennis go the distance for the first time in nearly six years, having racked up 19 knockouts and one No-Contest during that stretch. Philadelphia’s Ennis still handily won, a feat which ended Chukhadzhian’s 20-fight win streak.
Another three wins followed for Chukhadzhian, including a May 2024 points victory over England’s Harry Scarff to re-emerge as the IBF mandatory. It led directly back to Ennis, this time with P2M securing the promotional rights to the rematch after outbidding Matchroom.
However, the fight fell back into Matchroom’s hands, which resulted in a home game for Ennis. Their second meeting saw Chukhadzhian suffer a 5th-round knockdown but also push Ennis, only to once again fall well short on the final scorecards. He has since claimed two more victories, including a 2nd-round knockout of Joel Mafauad last October 11 in Riga, Latvia.
Donovan, 14-2 (11 KOs) has not fought since his two-fight set with Belfast’s Crocker, which left him with the lone two blemishes on his ledger.
The Andy Lee-trained contender from Limerick was unlucky to not preserve his perfect record from his first meeting with Crocker last March 1, which he lost via disqualification. Donovan was well ahead through seven rounds and had even floored Crocker earlier in the contest.
The ending to the 8th round sealed his fate, however. Donovan floored Crocker with a right hook marginally after the bell sounded to end the round. The official in-ring ruling was that Donovan failed to honor the verbal command of referee Marcus McDonnell, thus resulting in the disqualification verdict in their IBF title eliminator.
An immediate rematch was ordered, this time for the vacant IBF belt after Ennis moved up to junior middleweight. This time it was Donovan who was floored twice, which provided the margin of victory for his bitter rival (114-112 and 114-113 Crocker, 115-111 Donovan).
Donovan was subsequently ordered to next face Paro in a title eliminator. Their bout was scheduled for January 16, only for the Irishman to fall ill and have to withdraw. Paro was advanced to mandatory title challenger by default, though the IBF has moved quickly to get its next one in queue.
Per IBF rules covering purse bids, both boxers are required to commit to the ordered eliminator. Should either side abandon the fight, that boxer will be dropped outside the sanctioning body’s top 10 and ineligible to fight in any IBF-sanctioned contests for a minimum of six months.
