Terence Crawford says there’s a possibility that he could 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’s Condition
Crawford’s comment about Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) choosing NOT to face Vergil Jr. for his WBC interim 154-lb title on the Riyadh Season card on February 22nd suggests that he has doubts about whether he’ll ever face him.
It’s not a good sign that Boots did not accept His Excellency Turki Alalshikh’s offer to fight on his card against Ortiz Jr. Taking that fight would have given Ennis’ career a huge boost, yet he refused. That indicates that he lacks self-confidence, which is understandable after his poor showing in his rematch against Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9th.
For there any possibility of a fight between the two, Ennis would need to be more of a risk-taker by moving up in weight to take the tougher fights against guys like Ortiz Jr. and the other belt-holders. It appears that ‘Boots’ is content with staying safe at 147, beating the less talented opposition, and being a big fish in a small pond. He’s making good money for the low-risk fights his promoter, Eddie Hearn, is setting him up with at welterweight. All that changes potentially if Ennis moves up to 154; hence, he’s chosen to stay ‘safe’ at 147, using the division as a foxhole to hide in.
It’s understandable why the Matchroom-promoted Ennis wouldn’t want to go up to 154 to fight killers like Vergil Ortiz Jr. because of the easy money he’s making now at welterweight, feasting the Hors D’oeuvres, like Karen Chukhadzhian and David Avanesyan, is preferable than jumping into the rough ocean waters at 154 to take on the talented fighters that might beat him repeatedly.
“He Turned Down a Fight”
“I think Boots and Stanionis are the two top guys in the division. We’re in two different weight classes,” said Terence Crawford to Boxing Social, when asked about whether he could fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
“As you see, he just turned down a fight with Vergil [Ortiz Jr.] to move up to 154 because he’s staying at 147. I think Boots is going to do tremendous things in the sport of boxing. I think he’s potentially going to clean out the 147-lb division, and when he moves up, who knows? We shall see.
“I don’t know what the negotiations. I don’t want to say anybody is ducking anybody when I don’t know the situation at hand. But from the looks at him, everybody is coming at him, saying, ‘He ducked.’ I don’t know,” said Crawford when asked if he believed ‘Boots’ Ennis ducked WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. when asked if he would like to fight him on the February 22nd card in Riyadh.
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