By Chris Williams: Tim Bradley feels that the highly ranked unbeaten Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis doesn’t do anything for Terence Crawford and he believes that he would be knocked out by the Nebraska native.
Boot Ennis’s size, power, youth, and offensive ability will be too much for the aging 34-year-old Crawford in this writer’s estimation. Whether that’s something that Bradley wants to avoid happening is unknown.
The fight that Bradley wants is Errol Spence Jr. vs. Crawford, as long as Errol wins his April 16th unification clash against WBA welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas.
If Crawford can’t get the fight with Spence, the best option for him is to take on Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (28-0, 26 KOs) because he’s far better than the six fighters Crawford has faced since moving up to the 147-lb division in 2018.
WBO champion Crawford’s opposition at welterweight has been a mix of old over-the-hill fighters and average run-of-the-mill fringe contenders.
Crawford’s past experience at 147:
- Kell Brook
- Shawn Porter
- Amir Khan
- Jeff Horn
- Jose Benavidez Jr
- Egidijus Kavaliauskas
In looking at that bunch, it’s fair to say that Boots Ennis is far better than any of those guys. Contrary to what Bradley is saying, Boots Ennis does have a lot to offer Crawford.
Of course, if Bradley is only focusing on the biggest money fight, Spence is obviously the way to go, but if that fight doesn’t happen, who will Crawford face?
It doesn’t look like the Spence-Crawford fight is going to happen next because Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman has been mentioned as a strong possibility for Spence to face.
The former WBA/WBC champion Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) in his recent ‘get-back’ fight against Mario Barrios on February 5th. Thurman is a big name, and he has the marketing ability to make a fight between him and Spence huge on pay-per-view.
Probably a lot bigger than a Spence-Crawford clash, which might be difficult to sell in big numbers.
Crawford vs. Boots = NOT a great fight says Tim
“I got to go with Spence, man. I’ve been liking the way Spence has been looking,” said Tim Bradley to Fight Hub TV in picking Errol Spence Jr. to defeat Yordenis Ugas on April 16th.
“I understand that but what’s at stake for Crawford? What’s that going to do for him?” said Bradley when told that Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis wants to fight Crawford.
“What’s that going to do for him? You think that’s a great fight? Really?” said Bradley in sounding cool to the idea of Boots Ennis being given a shot at Crawford despite it being a much bigger match than the guys he’s been facing for years.
“Are you crazy? Against Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford? Are you kidding me? I don’t think it’s a whitewash but I think somebody is going to sleep and it ain’t going to be Crawford,” said Bradley in sounding more like Terence’s guardian protector than an analyst.
“You crazy. Y’all better put some respect on Crawford’s name right now. Put some respect on my boy’s name. I like Boots, but who has he fought like you going to be like, ‘Oh, he can take Crawford.’ Who he fought?
“He gets touched up in those fights?” said Bradley in failing to mention the fights that Boots Ennis is supposedly getting marked up. “Now imagine Crawford touching him up,” said Bradley.
You could find a lot of boxing fans that would disagree with his view of Ennis not being a great opponent for Crawford. Who has Crawford fought that would beat Boots Ennis during his 14-year pro career?
At this point, the best opponent Crawford has fought is the shopworn gatekeeper Shawn Porter, but he was over-the-hill by the time they fought.
Porter was a good – but not great – fighter during his career, but he was well past it by the time Crawford fought him.
Shawn had arguably been beaten by Yordenis Ugas in March 2019, then he lost to Spence, and after that defeat, Porter fought Sebastian Formella and then ended his career against Crawford.
Bradley picks Spence over Ugas
“I got to go with Spence,” said Bradley. “I like the way he’s been looking and the way he sounds, skin looks good, and eye looks good when I’m watching him.
“He’s been looking good. I’ve been liking the interviews. I give Spence a hard time because I want to see him fight against Crawford. That’s why I give him a hard time,” said Bradley.
“Everybody says, ‘You’re always throwing hard jabs at him.’ I think he’s a fantastic fighter, but I just feel the Crawford fight should be sooner than later,” Tim said about Errol and Crawford.
“Do you understand that? Because if another injury is acquired, then we got to wait for another whole another year, bro,” Bradley said of the Spence vs. Crawford undisputed matchup. “It’s like, ‘Come on, let’s make this fight.’
“So, I’m going to hold him accountable because he said in the past that once he gets the third title, that’s when he’ll pursue the Crawford fight.
Once he [Spence] beats Ugas, and he will because Ugas is perfect, tailormade for him. He’s a guy that likes to sit in front, a guy that likes to cover up and use the high guard. Spence is beautiful coming around those guards coming down to the body.
“A guy tucking up like this, and you go around to the body and then come up on top. Control him with the jab, stab him down with a left hand to the body and then come from behind with two body shots.
“I know Spence very, very well. I follow Spence. He’s a good fighter, a great fighter actually, he really is. His toughness and he continues to show that because he continues to fight these guys, even coming off of an injury, bro. The best guys in the world, so you got to respect that.
“I know he’s a dog, he’s a dog, bro. This dude escaped death, let’s put it that way. He got thrown and ejected from a vehicle. You got to understand that. 100 miles-per-hour. He had a broken bone in his face, that’s it.
“It’s unbelievable. So that shows you right there that he’s different, he’s built differently without a doubt. Then he had an injury and came back and faced who? Hard-hitting Danny Garcia,” Tim said.
Chris Williams has no argument with Bradley in picking Spence over the 35-year-old Ugas on April 16th.
It’s a no-brainer that Spence will win that fight because Ugas looked nothing special in his bout against past his prime 42-year-old Manny Pacquiao in August of last year.
Spence shouldn’t fight Thurman
“Yeah, and I’ll tell you why, man,” said Bradley when asked if he’ll be mad if Spence faces Keith Thurman after Ugas rather than Terence Crawford.
“You saw all the pay-per-views, and you heard the stuff about PBC and all that. You hear all this stuff, ‘Oh, Crawford doesn’t sell pay-per-views.’ Did you see how many pay-per-views Thurman sold [for his fight against Mario Barrios]?
“Did you see that? So if Crawford can’t sell, he did a hell of a lot more pay-per-views than Thurman did [for his fight against the recently knocked out Barrios]. So what are we talking about, people?
“Stop it. Do you think Thurman sells more than Crawford? Stop it. Save that. No, I don’t want to see the Thurman fight. I want to see him [Spence] fight Ugas, beat Ugas, and then go at Crawford.
“Thurman don’t want none.” said Bradley when asked if Thurman should fight Crawford next. “Thurman don’t want none of no Crawford.
“I think you guys in the media need to push these guys into fighting him [Crawford]. It’s not about, ‘He can’t sell.’ Everybody uses that as the excuse, bro,” said Bradley.