Terence Crawford may need to look in the direction of Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis now that his dream fight against Canelo Alvarez is no longer a possibility. Ennis is easily the biggest money fight out there unless His Excellency can convince Canelo to accept less money than he currently asks to fight Crawford. It’s unlikely that he will.
The only fighter Crawford has fought during his career that brought more to the table financially than Boots would is Errol Spence, and that’s because of his popularity. Crawford hitched a ride on that promotion, taking advantage of Spence’s popularity.
“I think he beats Boots. I don’t think Boots is strong enough to hurt him, and I don’t think Boots brings nothing to the table that Crawford hasn’t seen, and Boots gets hit a lot,” said Lionell ‘Lonnie B’ Thompson to Pro Boxing Champions about his belief that Terence Crawford would beat Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis if they were to fight.
Crawford’s Fear of Ennis?
Crawford insists that Boots Ennis brings nothing to the table for him, but he routinely fights guys who bring less than him. That’s code language for, ‘This guy is too good for me.’
Crawford still holds out his dim hope that the Canelo fight will happen for him. He won’t want to mess up that payday by fighting Ennis and potentially losing.
Ennis is the type of fighter you must be young to face because if you’re approaching your 40s like Crawford, he’s bad news. However, even if Crawford were still young, he would be too small to fight him because when he was in his mid-20s, he was still fighting at 135.
“He gets hit way more than Crawford, and Crawford is sharp. Crawford is a sharpshooter. He’ll switch on you. He don’t get tired, he don’t get discouraged. He gets hit with a good shot. He don’t show it, mental toughness. He has everything you need to beat a Boots.”
Crawford doesn’t have anywhere near enough youth left to compete with Boots, and by the time he gets fighting again in 2025, he’ll have even less. Crawford will likely sit on the shelf, celebrating his controversial win over Israil Madrimov, until mid-2025, and he’ll be easy prey for anyone.
There was a lot of age showing with Crawford, who looked like he’d aged seven years since his win over the car crash-wrecked Errol Spence last year.
“I think we need to leave that alone,” said Lonnie B when asked about how Crawford would do against Canelo Alvarez at 168. “Crawford is a beast at 147 and 154. You start going up to [168]. Nah, I think Crawford is too small for a Canelo.
Crawford is too weak and old to have a chance against Canelo, but that’s not what that fight would be about. It would be a money grab to make cash in a celebrity-style battle.
Fans would pay to see Crawford, thinking he has a chance, and then be angry afterward when he plays it safe like Jermell Charlo in his one-sided loss to Canelo.
Crawford won’t want to go to war with Canelo because he will know the outcome. So, he’ll play it safe, lose a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision, collect his big paycheck, and head off into the sunset. It would be a classic money grab, and Crawford would laugh afterward.
“Absolutely,” said Thompson when asked if he was impressed with Crawford’s performance against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov last Saturday. “That jab, he [Crawford] had it on all night.
Crawford’s Performance Against Madrimov
“He kept it on a yoyo all night. Then when he got past it, he was giving him combinations. He [Madrimov] was going a lot of herky-jerky stuff, but that was all bluff. He wouldn’t let his hands go. Crawford tamed him. If you have a good job, it’s going to be hard to deal with you, and Terence Crawford has an amazing jab,” said Lionel.
Thompson is kidding himself if he thinks Crawford was impressive against Madrmov because he was awful. Aside from Crawford fans, they thought he looked poor the entire fight, which should have been a loss for him or a draw.
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