By Adam Baskin: Terence Crawford has ruled out fighting Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis for the time being, wanting to focus on the “bigger & better opportunities” against fighters like Jermell Charlo at 154.
It’s understandable that Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) isn’t showing interest in fighting the 26-year-old ‘Boots’ Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) because the seven-year pro’s resume is too thin, and he’s not well-known enough by the casual boxing fans for a fight between him & Terence to be mega-fight like ones he’s targeting.
‘Boots’ Ennis still needs to make a name for himself. He should ‘run the gauntlet’ against these killers first before piping up about wanting to share the ring against superstar Crawford:
– Eimantas Stanionis
– Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman
– Vergil Ortiz Jr
– Yordenis Ugas
– Alexis Rocha
– Egidijus Kavaliauskas
– Shakhram Giyasov
Beating Roiman Villa was a good start for ‘Boots’ Ennis, but he’s got to do a lot more to earn his way to a mega-fight with Crawford.
Looking at it from Crawford’s perspective, he needs to maximize the time he has left in his career by fighting established fighters like Jermell Charlo, Canelo Alvarez, Gennadiy Golovkin, Tim Tszyu & David Benavidez.
Crawford looking for bigger opportunities
“That could happen because we’re in the same weight class, but at this point in time, I’m looking for bigger & better opportunities, like [Jermell] Charlo,” said Terence Crawford to HOT97, when asked if he’d be interested in fighting Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
Boots Ennis needs to move up to 154
If ‘Boots’ wants to improve his chances of fighting Crawford as soon as possible, he’ll bulk up, hit the weight room, move up to 154 and start over in that division.
There are no opportunities for Boots Ennis at 147, as the top guys like Thurman & Stanionis likely won’t fight him, and other welterweights are obscure fighters and bring nothing to the table.
If ‘Boots’ stays at 147, he can capture the welterweight titles that Crawford vacates, but it would be a glacially slow process, given that they’ll be fragmented, and it could take many years for him to become the undisputed champion.
With the way that ‘Boots’ Ennis is avoided at 147, it wouldn’t be a surprise if it took him until he reached Crawford’s age at 36 before he collects all four belts to become undisputed champ. What for, though?
The only time it matters for a fighter to try & become undisputed is for these reasons:
- They lack popularity
- The other champions are famous (e.g., Errol Spence Jr.) and worth fighting.
Unfortunately for Boots Ennis, the 147-lb division is now the equivalent of a barren planet like Mars & Mercury that Crawford & Spence are moving up to 154. There’s no reason for Boots to stay at 147, given the climate of avoidant fighters and no names.