Jaron “Boots” Ennis successfully defended his IBF welterweight title Saturday night in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Arena, but the performance was what most expected from the 27-year-old.

Ennis prevailed by unanimous decision, knocking down Karen Chukhadzhian in the fifth round of their rematch, which also saw the challenger penalized a point for repeated holding.

All three judges scored the fight in favor of Ennis (119-107, 117-109, 116-110). The results were closer than in the first meeting with Chukhadzhian, but still clearly in favor of Ennis. The house was packed with Ennis fans in his hometown, but there was very little energy throughout the night as the fight was more competitive than many expected.

After the fight, a seemingly embarrassed Ennis said he could finish at 147 pounds. Ennis is considering potential matchups at 154 pounds with much bigger names available to him in that weight class.

He later doubled down on the concept during a meeting with the press saying he’s tired of fighting bottom-level guys.

His promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom, was not sold on the idea. However, he leaned toward the growing five-on-five concept with Golden Boy Promotions, which would likely see Ennis take on Vergil Ortiz Jr. as the headliner of that historic card.

Those are the facts of Saturday night, but there were some key takeaways from what turned out to be a tough night for Ennis.

Chukhadzhian came to compete

Chukhadzhian came to fight on Saturday, which was not the case in the first meeting with Ennis when he was run more than beaten. Chukhadzhian’s willingness to throw seemed to catch Ennis off guard, and the challenger repeatedly landed left hooks and straight rights to the champion’s head.

Chukhadzhian did a great job muddying the action with grappling, which led to him being penalized and keeping him in the fight.

Ennis seemed to underestimate his opponent and was determined to get the shot.

Ennis wanted an easy, showcase-style fight, but Chukhadzhian wouldn’t cooperate. Ennis could have found himself in deep water if he had more striking power.

Disagreements on street corners seemed to aggravate and distract Ennis

Throughout the night, Ennis’ father and coach, Bozy Ennis, kept calling for his son to “get him out of there,” but there were very few specific instructions. During the fight, Boots seemed concerned for the fans, friends and family in the ring and for his father.

Ennis was already in the middle of a fight that turned out to be more challenging than he expected, and it seemed like he needed more concentration than punishment.

Ennis’ defense is not good enough for elite fighters

No matter how you look at it, Ennis gets hit too often by fighters who aren’t top-tier guys. Imagining Ennis in the ring with Ryan Garcia, Terence Crawford and others he has called out could seemingly lead to a devastating loss for the Philadelphia native.

Ennis hits hard, is physically strong, and has a solid chin, but it’s not a good idea to try the latter against guys who can really break and are deadly accurate.

Ennis needs to work a little on that aspect of his game before raising his level of competition.