Mexican fighting legend Juan Manuel Marquez has given his take on a potential bout between former undisputed welterweight champion Terence Crawford and current 147lb champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
Ennis has quickly filled the void left at welterweight after ‘Bud’ moved up to 154lbs having collected all the belts at 147.
Crawford beat Errol Spence Jr in a career defining performance last year and, when a contracted rematch never materialised, both men decided to move up in weight. The undefeated switch hitter from Omaha made his debut at the higher weight earlier this month when he defeated WBA super-welterweight belt holder Israil Madrimov to become a four-weight world champion.
Boots, the current IBF welterweight champion, is one of the rising stars of the sport and boasts an incredible record of 29 knockouts from his 32 fights and is yet to taste defeat.
With Crawford now looking for his next opponent and Boots making it clear he’s ready to face his rival, former four-weight champion Marquez heaped praise onto Ennis, but told FightHype that the step up in the weight might be too much.
“He’s a great fighter, I think he’s a good fighter but he’s a welterweight and Crawford is now a super-welterweight.”
Boots’ promoter Eddie Hearn told ESNEWS that he fears the fight may never happen as Crawford may hang up the gloves if he can’t land a fight against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
“It doesn’t look like [he will get the Canelo fight] at the moment. I don’t think Crawford will fight again outside of Canelo Alvarez. I don’t think he has the desire. He definitely won’t fight Vergil Ortiz in my opinion, I don’t think he’ll fight Fundora. He made a lot of money last time out, he made a lot of money against Spence and I think he’s thinking if I don’t make a lot of money I’m done.”
