Terence Crawford says there is a possibility 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’ a fight with Vergil Ortiz ” rejected” said Jr. to move up to 154.
Bud’s condition
Crawford’s comment about Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) choosing to fight Vergil Jr. on Feb. 22. for his WBC 154-pound interim title on the Riyadh Season card NOT to face, suggests he doubts he’ll ever face him.
It is not a good sign that Boots did not accept His Excellency Turki Alalshikh’s offer to fight Ortiz Jr on his card. Taking that fight would have given Ennis’ career a huge boost, but he declined. This indicates that he lack of confidencewhich is understandable after his poor performance in his rematch against Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9.
For the possibility of a fight between the two, Ennis would have to be more of a risk taker by moving up in weight to take on the tougher fights against guys like Ortiz Jr. and taking the other belt holders. It seems ‘Boots’ is content to stay safe on 147, beat the less talented opposition and be a big fish in a small pond. He makes good money for the low-risk fights that his promoter, Eddie Hearn, sets him up at welterweight. All this may change if Ennis moves up to 154; therefore he was selected to remain ‘safe’ at 147, by the division as a foxhole to hide in.
It’s understandable why the Matchroom-promoted Ennis doesn’t want to go up to 154 to fight killers like Vergil Ortiz Jr. fight, because of the easy money he’s making now at welterweight, while feasting on Hors D’oeuvres like Karen Chukhadzhian and David Avanesyan, is preferable to jumping into the rough waters at 154 to face the talented fighters to dare who can 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,” Terence Crawford told Boxing Social when asked if he could fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
“As you can 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 possibly going to clean up the 147-lb division, and when he moves up, who knows? We will see.
“I don’t know what the negotiations are. I don’t want to say that anyone ducks anyone when I don’t know the situation. But from looking at him, everyone came to him and said, “He dived.” I don’t know,” Crawford said when asked if he believed ‘Boots’ Ennis had dodged interim WBC junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. when asked if he wanted to face the February 22 card in Riyadh fight.
