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

Ennis won by unanimous decision, dropping 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 for Ennis (119-107, 117-109, 116-110). The scores were closer than in the first meeting with Chukhadzhian but still clearly in Ennis’ favor. The house was packed with hometown Ennis fans, but there was very little energy all night as the fight was more competitive than expected.

After the fight, an apparently embarrassed Ennis said he might be done at 147 pounds. Ennis is eyeing potential matchups at 154 pounds with much bigger names at his disposal in that weight class.

He doubled down on his concept later during a meeting with the press, saying he was tired of fighting low-level guys.

His promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom, was not convinced by the idea. However, he has leaned into the likely growing five-on-five concept with Golden Boy Promotions, which would likely see Ennis take on Vergil Ortiz Jr. to headline this historic card.

Those are the facts from Saturday night, but there are a few takeaways from what turned out to be a complicated night for Ennis.

Chukhadzhian came to compete

Chukhadzhian came to fight on Saturday, which was not the case in the first meeting with Ennis where he ran more than punched. 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 muddling the action with restraint, earning him a penalty and keeping him in the fight.

Ennis seemed to underestimate his opponent and was determined to finish.

Ennis wanted an easy, showcase-style fight, but Chukhadzhian would not cooperate. Ennis might have found himself in deep water if he had more punching power.

Disagreements in the 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 about the fans, friends and family at ringside and about his father.

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

Ennis’ defense isn’t good enough for elite fighters

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

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

Ennis needs to work on this aspect of his game before raising his competitive level.