Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) called out Terence Crawford on Saturday night, saying he wants him next after beating David Avanesyan (30-5-1, 18 KOs) by a fifth-round doctor’s stoppage on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
(Credit: Amanda Westcott/Matchroom.)
Ennis’s Explosive Performance
The speed with which IBF welterweight champion Boots Ennis dispatched Avanesyan was faster than what Crawford had done two years earlier when he knocked him out in the sixth round with a pair of gloves that had fallen apart during the fight in Omaha, Nebraska, on December 10, 2022.
It doesn’t look promising for the 27-year-old Ennis that Crawford will accommodate his wishes to face him next or at any point in the future.
Boots wore down the 35-year-old Avanesyan, using an attacking pressure style and focusing on power shots. However, it wouldn’t have mattered even if Boots Ennis had focused on boxing.
Avanesyan attacked him the entire fight. Even in the fifth round, when he looked beat up from the heavy punishment he’d taken, he was still firing back hard shots and catching Boots.
When Boots slipped to the canvas in the fifth, Avanesyan celebrated, taunting him and seemingly viewing it as a knockdown, which it wasn’t. When Ennis got back up, Avanesyan immediately backed him up against the ropes and unloaded a heavy artillery barrage, with most of the punches landing clean.
Later in the round, Avanesyan landed a hard right to the head of Boots but was dropped by a counter left a fraction of a second later. Boots threw the left after being nailed by the right from Avanesyan, which had to have been difficult for him to get that shot off.
Crawford has a big problem against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov, and it appears that he’ll fight Canelo Alvarez in 2025 for his undisputed super middleweight championship.
Crawford will only accommodate Boots Ennis for a fight if the Saudis offer him a ton of money after he makes a royal killing, making a load of dough fighting Canelo first. It appears that Crawford will still be given the Canelo fight, even if he loses to Madrimov on August 3rd, which will set up an odd situation.
The Call-Out
“Let’s make it happen. I want the big fights. Terence Crawford or anyone else at that weight, let’s get it,” said Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to DAZN, following his fifth-round stoppage win over David Avanesyan on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
It looked good for Boots Ennis to call out Crawford to generate a nice sound bite, but it’s not happening. Crawford is looking to get that golden parachute payday against Canelo Alvarez, and he won’t risk that by fighting Boots.
“That was Boots Ennis one year out, dismantling a world-class fighter with ease in there, having fun, doing what he does and the future for Boots Ennis,” said promoter Eddie Hearn.
That was not a “dismantling” with ease that we saw from Ennis tonight. Avanesyan gave him a difficult time, and none of the rounds were one-sided, with Ennis not taking big shots. Ennis got hit a lot, and he looked relieved when the doctor chose to stop it.
“Boots Ennis is the future of boxing. That’s what this man is. He’s very humble. You never hear him say too much. I’ll say it. I think he beats everyone. I think this is a special fighter that needs to be tested against the best in the world, and that’s our job now,” said Hearn.
Ennis needs to beat better opposition to be seen as the future of boxing. He needs to beat these fighters to be considered the best:
Terence Crawford
Brian Norman Jr.
Devin Haney
Sebastian Fundora
Errol Spence
Tim Tszyu
Brian Mendoza
Israil Madrimov
Xander Zayas
Vergil Ortiz Jr.
Erickson Lubin
Serhii Bohachuk
“Activity is the key. Too many of these great young fighters are too inactive. We must get him back out in October or November,” said Hearn. “We’d love to return to Philadelphia. We’ve got to bring the biggest fights here, the unification fights. He’s going to be here for a long time.”
Hearn didn’t say what the plan is for Boots if he can’t get a unification fight for him against any of the welterweight champions in October or November. Does he just defend his IBF title against his #1 contender Cody Crowley or someone else or does he move up in weight?
“The plan is unifications. Before he moves to 154, which is inevitable at some point, we want to unify the division. Marios Barrios, Stanionis, any of these guys,” said Hearn.
If Hearn can’t get the unification fights set up for Boots rapidly at 147, he needs to move up to 154 to go after the bigger fights in that weight class. He looked massive tonight, like a fighter that should be competing at junior middleweight.
“For me, I think Madrimov is going to beat Crawford. If not, I would love to see Jaron Ennis against Crawford. I think he beats him. I think it’s the biggest fight in boxing, but that’s in time,” said Hearn.
Many fans felt that Madrimov would defeat Crawford, and if that happened, Boots would need to decide whether he still wanted to fight him. It might be better for Ennis to target Madrimov in that case because that would be the logical sporting move.
“We’ve got to build, we’ve got to be active, and we’ve got to try to capture these belts,” said Hearn.
Boots had been out of the ring for a year before taking the fight with Avanesyan, and he didn’t look nearly as sharp as he a year ago or in any of his performances in recent years.
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