Terence Crawford says there’s 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’ has “turned down” a fight with Vergil Ortiz Jr . to move to 154.
Crawford’s comment about Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) deciding not to face Virgil Jr. on February 22nd. for his interim WBC 154lb title on the season card in Riyadh suggests he doubts he will ever face him.
It’s not a good sign that Boots didn’t accept His Excellency Turki Alalshikh’s offer to fight on his card against Ortiz Jr. Taking that fight would have given Ennis’ career a big boost, but he declined. It is an indication that he lacks confidence, which is understandable after the poor result in the rematch against Karen Chukhajian on November 9.
For there to be any possibility of a fight between the two, Ennis would have to take more risks by moving up in weight to take on tougher fights against guys like Ortiz Jr. and other belt holders. ‘Boots’ seems content to be safe at 147, beat less talented opposition and be a big fish in a small pond.
It’s understandable why Matchroom-promoted Ennis wouldn’t want to make it to 154 to fight killers like Virgil Ortiz Jr. for the easy money he’s now making at welterweight, celebrating Hors D’oeuvres like Karen Chukadjian and David Avanesyan, is better than jump into the turbulent waters of the ocean at 154 to face talented fighters who could defeat him repeatedly.
“He refused to fight”
“I think Boots and Stanionis are two of the best 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 boxing. I think he’ll potentially clean up the 147-pound division, and when he moves up, who knows? we will see.
“I don’t know what the negotiations are like.” I don’t want to say that someone is dragging my feet when I don’t know what the situation is. But by the sight of him, they all approach him saying, ‘He has bent down.’ I don’t know,” Crawford said when asked if he believed ‘Boots’ Ennis had run away from WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. when asked if he would like to fight him on February 22 in Riyadh.
