Terence Crawford vs. Jaron Ennis is a fight that fans have wanted for a long time.
A typical hard-hitting challenger ready to topple the technically gifted champion. But the fans never got the fight. The challenger became a champion, and the potential fight was buried for good. But it seems there is a slight chance of making it happen.
Crawford, 37, relinquished his titles at 147 and moved up to 154 earlier this year, and the whole endeavor resulted in him winning the WBA light middleweight title after defeating Israil Madrimov in August. Interestingly, there were concrete talks of Ennis, 27, making a similar switch, but against Vergil Ortiz Jr.
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A fight had been offered and accepted, and it eventually collapsed, with ‘Boot’s staying at 147 and solidifying his career at welterweight. If he had made a successful switch, maybe a fight with ‘Bud’ would have been possible.
It’s the same picture that Crawford, at 41-0, painted when he appeared in an interview with Boxing Social. He said, “We’re in two different weight classes. As you 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.”
The WBA champion also entertained the possibility of a fight with Ennis, at 34-0, if the latter wiped out the 147-pound division and moved up. He continued, “I think he’s potentially going to clean out the 147-lb division, and when he moves up, who knows? We shall see.”
However, Crawford is currently tending to an injury and is out until next year, May or June, as disclosed by HE Turki Alalshikh. So, the question is, who will he take on upon return? Will Ennis climb up by then? That’s not a possibility as of now. So, what about Canelo Alvarez? A fight that he wants desperately to close off his career with a legacy fight?
In the same conversation, the two-time undisputed champion disclosed his chances of a fight with Alvarez, 34. He admitted he was not chasing a fight with the Mexican champion but was willing to fight the best fighter of his generation. He declared, “I wouldn’t say I’m ‘chasing’ Canelo. I just want to have the opportunity to fight the best fighter of my generation.”
The Omaha native continued, “I just want to fight another great boxer. That’s all. If the fight does happen, I think it will be the biggest fight in modern boxing.” Alvarez, at 62-2-2, has remained uninterested in the fight because of the weight class differences between the two. However, HE Turki Alalshikh has expressed his desire to make it happen. It remains to be seen whether it happens or not.
