A purse bid hearing will determine promotional rights for a title eliminator.

BoxingScene.com has the IBF-ordered Karen Chukhadzhian-Harry Scarff welterweight bout is headed to a purse bid. The session is scheduled to take place this Thursday, conducted via Zoom from IBF headquarters in Springfield, New Jersey.

Participating promoters are required to be registered with the IBF. The winning bid must be accompanied by a ten-percent deposit, with another ten-percent along with signed agreements provided to the IBF no later than five business days after the hearing to validate the session.

The winner of the ordered fight will become the mandatory challenger to current IBF welterweight titlist Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, who is afforded a voluntary defense in the interim. As Boxing Scene previously reported, Ennis (31-0, 28KOs) recently filed a three-count complaint against estranged promoter NOW Boxing in an effort to invalidate his contract, but is still believed to return to the ring in May.

The inability to find willing contenders to face Ennis—mandated or otherwise—is reflected in the process to order a final elimination bout. Ukraine’s 

Chukhadzhian (23-1, 13KOs) is currently number-seven at welterweight according to the IBF's most updated rankings, while England’s Scarff (13-2, 3KOs) is ranked at number-nine. The number-one and number-two positions are listed as “vacant”, a common practice by the IBF which requires that a contender wins an elimination bout for either of those slots.

Chukhadzhian came up well short in his interim IBF welterweight bid versus Ennis, but proved an awkward style even in a shutout points loss last January 6 in Washington, D.C. Two knockout wins have followed, including a ninth-round stoppage of Pietro Rossetti last November in Munich, Germany.

Scarff punched his way into contention with an upset win over previously unbeaten and prominently ranked Ekow Essuman. The battle of UK-based welterweights saw Derby’s Scarff claim a well-earned unanimous decision in their twelve-round, multi-belt regional title fight last November 18 in Manchester, England. Essuman was in position to advance in the IBF rankings, an opportunity seized by Scarff, a 30-year-old southpaw who has won five in a row.

The ordered mandatory will allow Ennis to seek out any ranked contender of his choosing for his next outing or another titlist. The 26-year-old can’t-miss rising star was upgraded from interim to full titlist last fall when Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford (40-0, 31KOs) was stripped for failure to honor their ordered title consolidation bout.

Ennis last fought in a ninth-round knockout of Roiman Villa last July 8 in Atlantic City, an hour from his Philly home base.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox