Terence Crawford still has his foot in the door at 147, and he feels he’s still the #1, above Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. Terence is currently going through the denial stage, having difficulty dealing with the rise of Boots Ennis.
The only way Crawford can prove that he’s #1 at 147 is to fight Boots Ennis, and given that he refuses to do that, he’s lost his top spot by forfeit.
To be sure, Crawford can continue to call himself the #1 welterweight until he’s blue in the face, but because he’s not interested in defending that spot against Boots, he’s lost his position by default. That’s how it goes in boxing.
In sports like the NBA, you don’t hold onto the top spot without returning and continuing to compete. You don’t win the championship and then cancel the next season and hold onto that top spot. That’s what Crawford is doing.
Crawford seems to have things twisted in his head, believing he can beat one guy, a wrecked Errol Spence, and then call himself the #1 infinitely without proving it against your top competitors.
It would be better for Crawford to accept that he’s been supplanted by the young lion Boots Ennis, and he’ll never return to the division to risk his hide against the talent.
Terence (40-0, 31 KOs) hasn’t ruled out a return to the 147-lb division, but considering that he wants nothing to do with Boots Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs), there would be no reason for him to continue fighting in that weight class.
You hate to say it, but the best thing Crawford can hope for before retirement is a rematch with Errol Spence Jr. and a fight against the Australian 154-pounder Tim Tszyu. That’s as good as it gets.
Crawford isn’t saying whether he’ll return to the welterweight division, though, as he’s focused on getting big payday fights against super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez and potentially IBF/WBA/WBC 154-lb champ Jermall Charlo.
For the time being, Crawford’s wagon is tied to Errol Spence Jr in a rematch, and those two will need to meet at some point next year once PBC finds a new home for their fighters.
Crawford in denial
“Oh yeah, in the future, definitely. When Terence Crawford leaves the division, but right now, Terence Crawford is the ultimate of all ultimates in the division,” said Terence Crawford, speaking in the third person to the media when asked if he believes Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis is his successor.
I know, it’s got to be a bitter pill for Crawford to swallow being stripped of his IBF welterweight title, but it was clear from the jump that the winner of his fight with Spence had to defend against Boots. Since that’s not going to happen, the IBF had to strip Crawford.
Crawford is a classic example of a person who, after success at something, be it gambling or getting lucky on the stock market, believes that he’s going to keep having the same fortune. That’s not how it goes, unfortunately.
Those big fights that Crawford thinks are out there for him against Canelo Alvarez and Jermell Charlo, they might not be there.
At this point, even if Crawford were to hook the played-out fish Jermell, that fight wouldn’t draw flies, and the promoter or network that puts up the dough to cover the huge purses for the contest would be crying crocodile tears when the event fails to turn a profit.
Whatever popularity Jermell had, it went up in smoke after his non-effort against Canelo Alvarez, and the fans aren’t going to trust him without his rebuilding first by taking on some of the top 154-pounders like Tim Tszyu.
Terence doesn’t have the options he thinks he does
Let’s get it right. Canelo will NOT fight Crawford, so he should put him out of his mind and start thinking realistically. Today, Crawford was saying that Canelo would want to fight him if it made good “business sense.”
He’s not going to fight Crawford because even though the fight would make good money, he would be blasted endlessly by fans for choosing to fight an old welterweight who started his career at 135 and has never fought above the 147-lb division.
Crawford could change all that if he moved up to 168 after his rematch with Spence, and fought these killers:
- David Benavidez
- Dmitry Bivol
- David Morrell Jr.
- Demetrius Andrade
- Jermall Charlo
- Caleb Plant
Crawford hasn’t said anything about wanting to fight those guys to try and earn the Canelo fight, and it’s pretty obvious that he’s counting on the Mexican star giving him a payday based on his win over Spence. That’s not going to be enough, I’m afraid.
For Canelo to be given adequate cover from the boxing public, Crawford has got to move up to 168 and beat big dogs, or at least try to, but he’s probably not going to do that.
Crawford knows his limitations, and he has no interest in tangling with Benavidez, Morrell, big Charlo, or Andrade and wind up null & void.
You can’t call the 36-year-old Crawford the “ultimate” welterweight because he’s only fought one high-level fighter during his five years in the 147-lb division, and that was a weight-drained, inactive, and car crash-damaged Spence.
The way Spence looked in that fight, feeble, slow, rusty as all get-up, and drained, he would have lost to a large handful of contenders from the 147-lb weight class.
All we can say is that Crawford was one of the best welterweights in the division, and the #1 guy has yet to be proven. Unless you’re naive and simple, you can’t determine the best fighter in the 147-lb division from Crawford’s victory over the shell of Spence.
The way Crawford is talking, he probably won’t return to the welterweight division unless he strikes out completely in getting the big fight he’s campaigning for against Canelo Alvarez or if he foolishly turns up his nose at the idea of fighting Jermell Charlo.
Crawford shouldn’t reject the Jermell fight because that could be his only option for a monstrous payday once he fights Spence in a rematch, which could hemorrhage money for the promoter of that event. It’s no secret that boxing fans are amped up at seeing a second fight between Crawford and Spence.
