By Adam Baskin: The more I listen to Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis talk of wanting Errol Spence Jr, Terence Crawford & Keith Thurman next, the more I believe he’s deceiving himself and will wind up greatly disappointed when he must settle for a lesser opponent.
The 25-year-old Ennis needs to see things in a realistic way about himself because he’s not going to get any of the guys he wants after his easy match against Karen Chukhadzhian on January 7th on Showtime PPV at the Capitol One Arena in Washington, D.C.
A more realistic option for Boots Ennis is against unbeaten Rashidi Ellis, as he’s expressed interest in fighting him.
The unbeaten 10-year professional Rashidi (24-0, 15 KOs) is an example of a failure to launch because he’s been facing lesser opposition for his entire career without being moved up against better fighters for some reason.
The 29-year-old Rashidi fights on the January 7th card against an obscure fighter named Roiman Villa in a 12-round bout.
“I’m fighting for the IBF interim right now. My next fight will be for the world title, so it don’t matter what’s going on,” said Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to ESNEWS.
“They’re going to have no choice because there’s no one else left to fight,” said Boots Ennis about whether Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr will eventually fight him. “All the rest of the guys are young guys. They’ve got to fight us or move up in weight.
“I feel like I can get Keith Thurman. If I can’t get Keith Thurman, I can get one of those world titles next year for sure.
“My motivation is to one day be undisputed at 147 pounds,” said Boots Ennis.
It’s readily apparent at this point that IBF/WBA/WBC welterweight champion Spence, WBO champ Crawford and the withering ‘One Time’ Thurman want nothing to do with the unbeaten highly ranked contender Boots Ennis (29-0, 27 KOs).
Spence, Crawford & Thurman are heading in different directions from Boots Ennis, and they’re not going to take a fight with him, knowing that there’s an excellent chance that they’ll lose to him, perhaps by a knockout.
Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) has spent an entire 14-year career fighting mostly B-level opposition and has picked up three division world titles against beatable fighters.
At this point in his career, the 35-year-old Crawford is looking to make the most money possible against Spence, and if he can’t get that fight, he’ll move up to 154 unless a company like BLK Prime wants to give him crazy money for another easy fight against a weak contender.