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Shakhram Giyasov Could Complicate Jaron Ennis’ Plan To Become Undisputed Welterweight Champ As WBA’s Mandatory Challenger
NEWS
Keith Idec
Keith Idec
RingMagazine.com
Shakhram Giyasov Could Complicate Jaron Ennis’ Plan To Become Undisputed Welterweight Champ As WBA’s Mandatory Challenger
ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey – Shakhram Giyasov stepped aside and allowed a unification bout between Jaron Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis to take place Saturday night.

His promoter, Eddie Hearn, recognizes it might not be as easy to convince the unbeaten Uzbek contender to do that again. Ennis, who is also promoted by Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, wants two more fights at welterweight, neither of which would involve Giyasov.

Philadelphia’s Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs, 1 NC) is solely focused on becoming boxing’s second fully unified 147-pound champion of the four-belt era.

Ennis’ potential problem, often the case for unified champions, is that Giyasov’s mandated shot at the WBA belt Ennis won from Lithuania’s Stanionis (15-1, 9 KOs, 1 NC) is overdue. The 27-year-old Ennis prefers fights with WBC champ Mario Barrios (29-2-1, 18 KOs) and WBO champ Brian Norman Jr. (27-0, 21 KOs, 1 NC).

The unbeaten Ring, IBF and WBA champ would risk getting stripped by the WBA if he and Hearn don’t get Giyasov (17-0, 10 KOs) to wait even longer for his title shot. Giyasov stayed busy on the Ennis-Stanionis undercard by knocking out overmatched Argentinean Franco Ocampo (17-3, 8 KOs) in the fourth round.

“I think [Ennis] could go on a fast run, but we’ve Giyasov as his mandatory,” Hearn said. “That’s an issue because he stepped aside for this one. And we represent [Giyasov]. So, yeah, it’s not just as easy as, ‘Wait over there, mate.’ ”

The 31-year-old Giyasov’s situation is also very different from most mandatory challengers. The 2016 Olympic silver medalist promised his 2-year-old daughter that he would become a world champion for her before she died of a rare brain condition a little more than a month ago.

Hearn applauded Giyasov’s ability to remain focused on training and fighting during an extremely emotional time in his life. Matchroom Boxing’s chairman understands, too, that his daughter’s death might make Giyasov less accepting of stepping aside again.

“He’s already stepped aside for this one,” Hearn said. “And I know Shakhram’s a fighter. He did this for us and he did this because he knew it was a great fight. But after this, he’s gonna say, ‘No, no. My time now.’ Do you know what I mean? Which is understandable. So, we’ll see.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.

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