Promoter Eddie Hearn is raving about his signing of Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, saying he wants to match him against Terence Crawford as soon as possible.
Hearn believes the highly skilled phenom Boots Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) will defeat Crawford to become the sport’s #1 pound-for-pound fighter.
Thus far, the old lion, Crawford, has resisted the idea of fighting Boots Ennis, preferring a big cash fight against Canelo Alvarez.
I think the smart move for Hearn would be to have Boots Ennis give up on his ambition to become the undisputed champion at welterweight and go straight to 154 to chase Crawford down to force a fight.
That’s the best way for Ennis to get a fight against Crawford before the aging Nebraska native retires, because he’s very old now, older than Keith Thurman. He’s like an antique, and Ennis has got to get to him before he’s beaten or hangs up his gloves.
Hearn’s Belief in Ennis
“I believe Boots will be undisputed at 147lbs if we can make it happen and at 154lbs,” said Hearn to Charlie Parson’s YouTube channel about his belief that he can make the fight between Ennis and Crawford at 154.
Hearn might have a better chance of making a fight between Ennis and Crawford than he will at guiding Boots to becoming undisputed champion at 147.
It’s unrealistic that Mario Barrios and Eimantas Stanionis will both agree to fight Ennis at welterweight to help him further his goal of becoming undisputed champion.
Even if Hearn could make those fights, Ennis would still need to win the WBO belt to become the undisputed champion at 147, and that would be another hurdle for him. Setting up these three fights could consume many years of Boots Ennis’ career, and in the end, it wouldn’t be worth the effort because Stanionis and Barrios aren’t big names.
Casual boxing fans don’t know who these guys are, so the fights wouldn’t attract a lot of interest for Boots. If the U.S. were the size of England, yeah, it would be a big deal for Boots to fight Stanionis and Barrios, but not in the U.S.
Giovani Santillan will likely capture the WBO belt once Crawford vacates it. Top Rank promotes Santillan, and they probably won’t be eager to let Ennis fight him to take his belt.
Hearn’s Vision
“I believe Boots will be undisputed at 147 lbs if we can make it happen, and at 154 lbs. I think he can beat Crawford – that’s the fight I want to push to make,” Hearn said.
If Hearn wants to speed up the process, he would have Boots Ennis vacate his IBF welterweight title and go straight up to 154, where he would have a better chance of getting the fight against Crawford, who currently has no one to fight.
Staying at 147 is a waste of time for Boots because there’s nobody in the division for him to fight, and the casual fans won’t be impressed if he devotes three to five years of his career trying to become an undisputed champion at welterweight. They don’t know who Barrios, Stanionis, and Santillan are.