Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, the new addition to Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom team, says Terence Crawford has limited options for a fight involving a big name.
Boots Ready to Step Up
Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) is ready and willing to fight the former two-division undisputed champion Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) in his first fight with his Matchroom to give them a blockbuster match-up.
Crawford, 36, is the missing link name that Boots needs to rise to stardom by taking the torch from the old warrior and sending him into retirement with a nice payday.
Interestingly, Crawford has hurt his career by failing to stay active after his win over Errol Spence last year and has only fought annually since 2020.
The fight that Crawford wanted against the winner of the Tim Tszyu vs. Sebastian Fundora is now off the table, leaving the Nebraska native empty-handed with no viable options apart from Boots Ennis, who has expressed disinterest in fighting.
Other Options: Benn & Haney
- Conor Benn: This fight would work well for the UK audiences for Boots Ennis to increase his appeal overseas, but do nothing for American fans. Let’s face it, Benn’s reputation has been tarnished recently, and he offers nothing to Boots that will help his career with the U.S. fans.
- Devin Haney: Fans would like to see how the semi-popular light-hitting defensive artist Haney would do against Boots Ennis, who would have a huge advantage in talent and power. Haney is bigger than Boots Ennis, but he chooses to melt down enormous amounts of weight to capitalize on smaller opponents at 140. Would Haney and his dad, Bill agree to fight Boots at 147? I don’t see it happening ever. It would be a good fight, though, kind of like a classic Julian Jackson vs. Terry Norris style of match-up. Haney would be Norris and Boots would be Jackson.
The Choice is Hearn’s
Assuming Crawford chooses not to fight Boots and continues to stay inactive, there’s Conor Benn, the British welterweight, who would be a decent choice for Ennis to fight. The only question is whether Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn will allow Boots Ennis to fight Benn.
The unbeaten fringe welterweight contender Conor Benn (23-0, 14 KOs) is a popular fighter in the UK, thanks to his famous dad, Nigel Benn, and he’s making good money for himself and for Matchroom with his fights against old down & out veterans and random anonymous fighters that no one has ever heard of.
It doesn’t matter who Hearn shovels into the ring for Benn to fight; the UK public eats it up, and they’ll likely continue to eagerly pay to watch his fights into his 40s as they do with Derek Chisora.
Using Conor Benn as an opponent for Boots Ennis would only help with the British fans, but not with Americans because they ones that know him, they don’t rate him as a quality fighter.
They just see Benn as a guy who was matched against stiffs and had a brief surge of power for a couple of years, but then seemingly lost his strength and is now back to the average sub-world class fighter he was before.
If Hearn really wanted to help Ennis’s career, he would persuade Devin Haney to move up seven pounds from 140 to challenge Boots for his IBF welterweight title. Boots vs. Haney would be an excellent fight and would create a lot of interest.
Hearn would need to wave a lot of green under Haney’s snoot (31-0, 15 KOs) to entice him to fight Boots. It’s questionable whether Haney and his dad, Bill, would agree to a fight with Boots, no matter how much money Hearn offered.
