YouTuber Ariel Helwani wants to see Terence Crawford fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis rather than Canelo Alvarez if he gets past WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd.
Helwani feels that Crawford’s big win over Errol Spence Jr last year on July 29 was so long ago that people have forgotten how good he was. Many fans feel that Spence wasn’t the same fighter he’d been due to injuries, a 17-month layoff, weight gain, and two car crashes.
Ariel feels that Crawford, 36, will beat ‘Boots’ Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) if they fight, and he wants to see that match happen before a clash between Terence and Canelo.
Unfortunately, Crawford has shown no interest in fighting Boots Ennis, and his trainer Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre says he “Brings nothing to the table.”
They want the Canelo payday and may get it if Crawford is victorious against Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs). Fighting ‘Boots’ Ennis would be a risk for Crawford, and they’re nothing to take that fight and potentially lose out on the Canelo bag.
“I don’t really want to see that right now. I’d rather see Crawford if he beats [Israil] Madrimov; I’d rather see him fight Boots next. I’d still have to go with Crawford until proven otherwise,” said YouTuber Ariel Helawani to Fighthype when asked who wins between Crawford and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
Crawford should fight Boots Ennis, but that match won’t happen unless promoter Eddie Hearn persuades His Excellency Turki Alakshikh to go in that direction first. At least if Crawford had to defeat Madrimov and ‘Boots’ Ennis to get the Canelo fight, he would have earned it.
“That fight against Spence was so long ago that we forgot how good he looked in that fight. I know in the aftermath, we can say, ‘Oh, Spence was banged up. He wasn’t the same. The accident, the retina, the eye.’ Look what he [Crawford] did to him. He skunked him essentially,” said Helwani.
Crawford has been out of the ring for a year, and he’s not likely to be in the same form he was for the Spence fight. Sitting out of the ring for one year at his age will do something. Also, Crawford has been fighting annually since 2020.
He’s been fighting once a year, and now he’s facing Madrimov for his one clash this year. That inactivity8 could catch up to Crawford on August 3rd.
It was pretty obvious that Spence looked nothing like the fighter he’d been before his car crash, but Helwani may not have been following boxing closely enough to note the dramatic drop-off.
Crawford looked good against Spence, but much of that was due to the deterioration. In Crawford’s previous fight against David Avanesyan and Shawn Porter, he was hit a lot and didn’t look that great.
“Boots looked good on Saturday, but he did get hit a little bit. He probably wanted to put on a show, and he was rusty a bit. Until proven otherwise, to me, Crawford is the man.
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