Terence Crawford’s trainer Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntrye sounded bitter today, talking about him being stripped of his IBF welterweight title and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis subsequently being elevated to the new champion.
BoMac sounded especially salty when asked if he thinks Jaron Ennis is the best welterweight outside of Crawford. Instead of saying that he was, BoMac said there are guys out there who haven’t been discovered that would give him problems.
You could tell from looking at BoMac that he was literally boiling over when asked about the young star Boots being elevated to the new IBF champion.
It would have been interesting to put a blood pressure cuff on BoMac at that moment because his BP likely would have shot through the roof in the 200 range. He looked like he was steaming, especially when the new IBF welterweight champion Boots’ name was mentioned.
BoMac sounded resentful for the praise & adoration Boots Ennis is getting from fans and the fact that he’s now being crowned as the new king of the welterweight division now that Crawford is leaving the division and is no longer planning on taking on all comers in the sporting sense.
Jaron Ennis = a superstar overnight
Boots Ennis has quickly ascended to superstardom thanks to his entertaining fighting style and natural charisma. What took Crawford fifteen years, Boots has achieved in lightning fashion due to him being a throwback fighter, with a perfect blend of Thomas ‘Hitman’ Hearns & Sugar Ray Leonard.
The reason for that is he’s a switch-hitting, mobile counterpuncher who wasn’t entertaining to watch for many fans.
In contrast, Jaron Ennis goes right after his opponents in seek & destroy mode, and he doesn’t waste time with the counter-punching & switch-hitting junk that Crawford has used.
BoMac had little good to say about the IBF’s move to strip, saying that he felt it was “biased,” and he suspects that it was Team Ennis’ pressure that led to the sanctioning body stripping Crawford of his belt.
Rather than admitting that Boots Ennis deserved to be given the IBF title, BoMac said that he brings “nothing to the table” for Crawford.
Brian says that Crawford deserves to fight whoever he wants at this point in his career, which translated means that he’s not going to be bound to making title defenses.
BoMac may not have realized it, but his negative comment about Boots made it clear that the IBF made the right decision to strip Crawford because he had no intentions of defending the belt against Ennis.
BoMac labels IBF as “biased” for stripping Crawford
“It’s kind of biased how they treated Terence and kind of f***d up, but we accomplished what we needed to accomplish. We got that undisputed welterweight title, and at 147, we’re supreme,” said trainer Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre to Fighthype when asked about his thoughts on Terence Crawford being stripped of his IBF title and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis being elevated to the new champ.
If Crawford wanted to avoid being stripped by the IBF, he should have warranted a step-aside deal, but he didn’t do it. As such, you have to conclude that he didn’t like his chances against Boots. The risk would have been too high for the aging Nebraska native.
The IBF’s decision to strip Crawford was a long overdue move on their part because as soon as Spence activated the rematch clause, it ruled out the possibility of Bud defending the belt against Boots.
Of course, most would agree that Crawford wouldn’t bother defending his IBF belt against Boots Ennis for the same reason that BoMac discussed his bringing nothing to the table.
What’s going to be interesting to see is if Crawford gets the big fights that he and BoMac are hoping. Likely, the opponents that Crawford does wind up facing the remainder of his career will bring him less money than he’d get if he were to face Boots.
Terence Crawford’s options:
- Canelo Alvarez – Let’s face it: Canelo is NEVER going to fight Crawford because he wouldn’t receive credit from fans for fighting a 147-pounder.
- Jermell Charlo – whatever interest fans had in a fight between Crawford and Jermell went down the drain after Chrarlo’s recent poor showing against Canelo. At this point, Crawford-Jermell is a fight that won’t sell.
- Tim Tszyu – casual boxing fans in the U.S. don’t know who Tszyu is, and this wouldn’t be a massive fight for Crawford compared to fighting Boots.
- Jermall Charlo – this fight will never happen. Charlo is too big and heading towards 168. He’s not going to kill himself, making weight at 160 or a catchweight of 158 to give Crawford a handicap.
“They can’t take that [former undisputed 147-lb champ] away from us,” said BoMac, talking about Crawford. “They can take away everything else, but not that. That’s history being made.
“It was probably a little bit of pressure from the Ennis camp because they had been pressing for a while. They had been pressing for a Spence fight,” said BoMac on why the International Boxing Federation moved so quickly to strip Crawford after he won the IBF title last July against Errol Spence.
“When the titles changed hands, things just happened. That’s how it is. We cool. We got what we needed.”
If Crawford got what he needed, then why is BoMac complaining about the IBF being “biased.” That sounds to me like he’s grieving about Terence losing his IBF belt.
What this writer wants to know is how long BoMac hoped the IBF would allow Crawford to hold the belt hostage. Was this supposed to be a relic, something the IBF would allow Crawford to keep the belt for time immemorial?
Crawford won’t fight Boots
“He don’t bring nothing to the table,” said BoMac about Jaron Ennis. “Terence is at the stage now in his career where he can pick & choose what he wants to do. If he don’t want to fight Boots because Boots doesn’t bring anything to the table, that’s what he chooses to do.”
BoMac can come up with any reason he wants for why Crawford gave up his IBF belt, but the fact of the matter is, fans think he’s afraid of Boots Ennis because he doesn’t want to lose to the young killer and be haunted by the memories of the loss as he heads off into retirement.
It would be hard for Crawford to live with a loss to Boots, and all those millions that he has in his bank account wouldn’t help him forget what would happen in that fight.
So, instead of risking his hide against the talented young star, Crawford his IBF belt, and will soon discover that all these great fights that he thought were out there are not.
“I’m going to ride with it. If anybody don’t ride with it, I don’t give a damn, and I’m sure he [Crawford] don’t either,” said BoMac.
“There are some good welterweights out there that could probably give him a run for his money, but they just haven’t been discovered yet,” said BoMac when asked if Boots Ennis is the best 147-pounder in the division next to Crawford.
It’s pathetic that BoMac couldn’t take the high road and praise Boots Ennis as the new champion. Instead, he chose to take a shot at him, saying there was some imaginary fighter out there that could possibly beat Ennis.
In some parts of the universe, a person can beat Boots Ennis, but we haven’t found him yet. We’d have to search through one of these far-distant galaxies to locate someone who could defeat Ennis.
