Crawford open to future Ennis fight: 'When he comes up, we'll see'

Terence Crawford says it's possible he'll fight Jaron 'Boots' Ennis in the future when he moves up to 154. Crawford, who holds the WBA junior middleweight title, points out that 'Boots' “turned down” a fight with Vergil Ortiz. Jr. to move up to 154.

Bud State

Crawford's comment on Ennis' (33-0, 29 KO) choice NOT to face Vergil Jr. for his WBC interim 154-pound title on Riyadh's Feb. 22 season card suggests he has doubts about whether he will ever face it.

It's not a good sign that Boots didn't accept His Excellency Turki Alalshikh's offer to fight on his card against Ortiz Jr. Accepting that fight would have been a huge boost to Ennis' career, but he refused. This indicates that he lack of self-confidencewhich is understandable after her poor performance in her rematch against Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9.

For there to be a possibility of a fight between the two, Ennis would have to take more risks by moving up in weight to face tougher fights against guys like Ortiz Jr. and the other belt holders. It seems “Boots” is content to stay safe at 147, beat the less talented opposition, and be a big fish in a small pond. He earns a lot of money for the low-risk fights that his promoter, Eddie Hearn, offers him at welterweight. All of this potentially changes if Ennis moves to 154; therefore, he chose to stay “safe” at 147, using the division as a foxhole to hide.

It's understandable why Ennis, promoted by Matchroom, wouldn't want to go up to 154 to fight killers like Vergil Ortiz Jr. because of the easy money he now makes at welterweight, feasting on appetizers. The work, like Karen Chukhadzhian and David Avanesyan, is better than jumping into the rough ocean waters at 154 to face the talented fighters who could beat him repeatedly.

“He refused a fight”

“I think Boots and Stanionis are the two best in the division. We’re in two different weight classes,” Terence Crawford told Boxing Social, when asked if he could fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.

“As you see, he just refused a fight with Vergil [Ortiz Jr.] move up to 154 because he's still at 147. I think Boots is going to do great things in the sport of boxing. I think he's going to potentially clean out the 147-pound division, and when he moves up, who knows? We'll see.

“I don’t know what the negotiations are. I don't mean that someone is avoiding someone when I don't know the situation. But judging by the looks on his face, everyone is turning to him and saying, “He slipped away.” I don’t know,” Crawford said when asked if he believed “Boots” Ennis dodged WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. when asked if he would like to fight him during the February 22 card in Riyadh.