Former title challenger to fight Irish foe for another championship opportunity.
Karen Chukhadzhian was a 21-1 contender when he fought Jaron Ennis for the IBF interim welterweight title in early 2023.
Despite that incredibly sturdy record, there wasn’t much to suggest that he would be of much trouble to Ennis. He owned two decent wins over Ryan Martin and Blake Minto, but not much outside of that.
And it turned out that Chukhadzhian was pretty much no trouble at all, as the Ukrainian was whitewashed on all three cards and handed his second career loss by the American.
Chukhadzhian put together two wins before he faced tricky British technician Harry Scarff, an operator who had proven to be a very uncomfortable proposition on the domestic U.K. scene.
Chukhadzhian would win with minor issue, and suddenly, he was mandatory challenger to Jaron Ennis, who had become full IBF champion since their first encounter.
Because of the non-competitive nature of their initial fight, Ennis was expected to deal with Chukhadzhian in much the same way the second time around.
But despite winning, Ennis encountered a lot more issues than he previously had, and it was Chukhadzhian who would come away with an enhanced reputation.
Despite being winless against Ennis, the fact remains that Chukhadzhian is the only man to last the distance with the American in his last 26 fights.
Since his second defeat to “Boots”, Chukhadzhian has beaten two Argentinian opponents, and he will now be back for a third big opportunity in an IBF-sanctioned fight.
Chukhadzhian (26-3, 14 KOs) will be facing Paddy Donovan (14-2, 11 KOs), a popular Irishman who has also lost twice to his most famous opponent.
However, in Donovan’s case, many feel he should have won both of his encounters with Lewis Crocker. In their first fight, Donovan would dominate the action, but would lose a point in two separate rounds for use of the head.
Donovan would drop Crocker in the 8th round, and he did so again with shots that landed after the bell to end the same session. As a result of when these punches landed, Donovan was disqualified.
The result divided opinion, but the pair would run it back, this time for the vacant IBF welterweight title (vacated by Jaron Ennis). And though Crocker was vastly improved and dropped Donovan twice, the majority of viewers felt Donovan won enough rounds to get his hand raised.
The judges felt differently, awarding Crocker a split-decision victory.
Indeed, despite being Irish, Donovan would appear to be extraordinarily unlucky. However, he will now get his chance to at last get his hands on the pot of gold, as his fight with Chukhadzhian is an eliminator to determine the next challenger to the IBF title (currently held by Lewis Crocker).
The co-main event features a heavyweight battle between former Southern Area champion Nick Webb (19-3, 15 KOs) and Emanuel Odiase (10-0, 8 KOs).
Another heavyweight clash will feature, as Peter Kadiru (22-1, 13 KOs) will take on Senad Gashi (34-4 (1), 32 KOs). And in the last of the announced fights, light-heavyweights Alexander Okafor (3-0, 2 KOs) and Elija Uelkuseven (8-0, 6 KOs) will be going at it.
The show will also include appearances from heavyweights Viktor Jurk (13-0, 11 KOs) and Nelvie Tiafack (3-0, 3 KOs).
It will all be taking place on the 15th of May at the SAP-Arena in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Karen Chukhadzhian vs Paddy Donovan eliminator set for May 15th https://t.co/QPqCPxVnqW
— Bad Left Hook (@badlefthook) April 14, 2026
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