Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis now Terence Crawford’s IBF mandatory

Image: Jaron 'Boots' Ennis now Terence Crawford's IBF mandatory
By Boxing News - 07/30/2023 - Comments

By Allan Fox: Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis is now the undisputed welterweight champion Terence Crawford’s IBF mandatory challenger. If Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) chooses to keep his IBF 147-lb title after his likely rematch against Errol Spence Jr in December at 154, he’s going to need to face the unbeaten ‘Boots Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs).

If Crawford chooses to vacate all his welterweight titles to move up to 154, he can change the trajectory of the dangerous career-wrecking asteroid-like Boots Ennis, who is on a collision course to slam into him.

Will Crawford vacate his titles?

By vacating the IBF belt, Crawford can safely navigate around the dangerous threat that Boots poses to him. Crawford didn’t reveal what his future plans are last Saturday night after scoring a ninth round technical knockout win over IBF, WBA & WBC welterweight champion Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) in their undisputed championship at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

After the fight, Crawford said it was up to Spence if he wanted a rematch. If so, the two will meet possibly in December as apart of the rematch clause in the contract for their fight last Saturday.

Crawford vs. Spence rematch should be delayed

Ideally, what should happen is for PBC to delay the Crawford-Spence rematch to let both fighters face another opponent in between to help create more interest in the second contest.

Crawford would then face ‘Boots’ Ennis in a mega-fight that would make Terence a lot of money while, at the same time, it would cement his position as the #1 fighter at 147. In the meantime, Errol Spence would move up to 154 and face one of these contenders: Tim Tszyu, Brian Mendoza, or Sebastian Fundora.

With that said, it’s probable that Crawford will elect to give up his undisputed championship at 147 rather than risk it all in a gamble against Boots Ennis,  who is clearly the next star of the welterweight division.

The 36-year-old Crawford is a decade older than the 26-year-old ‘Boots’ Ennis, and he won’t be facing a weight-drained, inactive, battle-worn fighter that has been involved in two serious crashes like his last opponent Errol Spence Jr.

Unlike Spence, who is arguably a middleweight that drains down to compete at 147, Jaron Ennis is a true welterweight and easily makes the weight.

Boots needs to make major improvements 

If Boots Ennis does face Crawford, he’s going to need to work on his power and especially his defense. Boots was getting hit way too often in his recent fight against Roiman Villa earlier this month on July 8th.

Although Enniss ultimately stopped Villa in the tenth round, he took many heavy shots to the head in every round. Moreover, Ennis’ jab & punching power wasn’t at the level of what we saw from Crawford in his win over Spence.