Shawn Porter states that he doesn’t see Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis getting a fight against Terence Crawford before he retires.
Porter says Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) is only interested in winning belts at 154 and getting the Canelo Alvarez fight before hanging up his gloves.
This is no great revelation because if Crawford wanted the fight against Boots Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs), he wouldn’t have left the 147-lb division without facing him.
Crawford is taking a lesser-known opponent, Israil Madrimov, the highest form of respect rather than fighting Boots. He could have fought Boots to regain his IBF title, but he opted to move up to 154.
Crawford’s Unwillingness to Face Ennis
Crawford’s move lets the world know he’s not confident about beating Ennis. Rather than going up to 154, he’ll go after the champions in that weight class and wait to see if a Canelo fight falls into his lap.
Ennis is too conservative with his approach to his career, not going up to 154 to chase Crawford and the much bigger fights for him in that weight class.
He’s too focused on his narrow goal of winning belts at 147. He fails to recognize that the division is so weak now that he won’t gain anything by beating the remaining belt holders, Eimantas Stanionis, Mario Barrios, and Brian Norman Jr.
While Crawford is sowing weakness by going up to 154 without fighting Boots, Jaron is also failing to take risks by staying in a dead division instead of going up in weight. Even if Boots Ennis never succeeds in getting a fight with Crawford, he could still expand his popularity by fighting these guys at 154:
– Errol Spence
– Sebastian Fundora
– Tim Tszyu
– Erickson Lubin
– Brian Mendoza
– Vergil Ortiz
– Xander Zayas
– Serhii Bohachuk
– Jesus Ramos
Crawford’s True Motivations
“He’s not close to getting Crawford. I don’t think Crawford takes the fight,” said boxing expert Shawn Porter to Fight Hub TV when asked if Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis will get a fight against Terence Crawford. “Everybody is relying on Prince Turki Alalshikh to get that fight done. I don’t think it gets done.”
It would be interesting if Boots Ennis wanted to put Crawford on the spot by moving up to 154 to chase him and capture one of the belts before he gets to it with his goal of becoming undisputed in that weight class.
If Boots got his hands on the IBF belt by beating Bakhram Murtazaliev, Crawford would either have to face him or give up on his goal of becoming undisputed.
That would make him look weak, but it’s unlikely Crawford would be willing to face what many believe is his better half.
“The reason he’s going to 154 is he wants to conquer 154. Outside of getting belts at 154 and a fight with Canelo Alvarez, I don’t think there’s anything else that Terence Crawford wants to do. Getting in the ring with a Boots is something he’s interested in,” said Porter.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Crawford at 154. Assuming he’s victorious against WBA 154-lb champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd, will Crawford stay in the division to capture the remaining three belts or retire if he’s given the Canelo fight on a silver platter by Turki Alalshikh without having to work for it?
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