Jaron Ennis missed out on his chance to challenge Terence Crawford at welterweight but he is willing to move up and meet him at 154 for the pleasure.
Ennis benefitted when Crawford left the division, systematically vacating his four belts to move up to super-welterweight. The Philadelphia native picked up the IBF strap.
Crawford has since won the WBA belt at 154, beating Israil Madrimov over the distance. His team say Ennis isn’t ready for the fight, but the 27-year-old believes differently. Fans want to see it happen, too.
Speaking on the Say Cheese podcast, Ryan Garcia backed ‘Boots’ against ‘Bud.’
“I like Boots. In my opinion I like Boots [to win that fight.] I don’t think Crawford could keep up with somebody that talented and young and fast. I don’t. I haven’t even seen him fight somebody talented, young and fast. Have you? Can you name one? I think Boots gets his ass. Not by a lot, but I think he beats him … I’d go with the youth.”
The fight, for now, looks unlikely. In fact, there’s a general view that Crawford may be all done in the sport of boxing unless he lands a fight against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
‘Boots’, meanwhile, is set to face mandatory challenger Karen Chukhadzhian – a frustrating move for him and fans given he beat the Ukrainian just last year to win the Interim belt before being elevated. Chukhadzhian’s promoter, P2M-Box, recently won the purse bid for the fight, outbidding Matchroom, who represent Ennis, by just shy of half a million dollars.
