Eddie Hearn says he believes Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis is the “new Crawford,” and he wants to match him against the Nebraska native to build his Matchroom-promoted fighter into a huge star.
Hearn thinks that it’ll require a “big payday” for Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) to be willing to fight Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) because he knows “it’s a real fight.” That last remark suggests that Hearn views Crawford’s win over Canelo Alvarez as not as impressive as some fans believe it to be. Canelo is no longer in his prime at 35, and it was the perfect situation for Crawford.
Is Crawford’s Legacy Inflated?
Fighting Ennis wouldn’t be the same piece of cake, and it could end badly for the soon-to-be 38-year-old Crawford. Once he loses, fans will realize they were fooled by his win over Canelo, and didn’t recognize that the Mexican star was just a shell of his former self. In other words, Crawford’s poor performance against Israil Madrimov in 2024 was an accurate indication of his talent level, or lack thereof, at the late stage of his career.
The matchmaking done for Crawford on his behalf by Turki Alalshikh, putting him in with the shot Canelo, made him look like 24k gold. In reality, he’s just an old runner with a flimsy record filled with lesser opposition that Ennis would likely beat and arrive with an identical 42-0.
A Real Fight for Crawford
“Terence Crawford against Jaron Ennis, for me, is the best fight in American boxing. But it would need to be a payday for Crawford to get him interested because he knows how good ‘Boots’ is. He knows that’s a real fight,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to the media about his interest in a fight between Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Terence Crawford.
“For me, ‘Boots’ is the new Crawford. We just have to go out and get the fights to show how great he is,” said Hearn.
Crawford is likely going to want a massive payday to take a risky fight against Jaron Ennis. He has much to lose going up against the young 28-year-old ‘Boots’ as Canelo Alvarez did fighting him last Saturday night. Turki Alalshikh would be the one who makes the decision.
Will Turki Risk His Investment?
I have my doubts about whether he’ll want to make that fight with ‘Boots’ Ennis. Turki poured all his millions into Crawford, who is one of his favorite fighters, and I don’t believe he’s going to want that money to go up in smoke with him getting beaten by Ennis.
I don’t know how Turki would feel having Eddie Hearn’s fighter get the better of Crawford, who he’s made to look better than he actually is by matching him against the washed-up Canelo and Israil Madrimov.
With the way that Crawford is being praised after the win against clearly deteriorated Canelo, he’s not going to want to lose all that in his next fight if he were to face Ennis.
The Ring has given Crawford a #1 ranking after beating Canelo, and ignoring that the Mexican star has been showing signs of serious decline for the last three years, since his loss to Dmitry Bivol in May 2022. Ennis isn’t old, flat-footed, immobile, or over-the-hill.
So, there’s a good chance Terence will lose to him because he did not look that impressive against Canelo. If you look at the fight closely, Crawford barely won and did not look young. He looked like a 38-year-old who ran around the ring, and just enough to edge a 12-round unanimous decision by the scores 115-113, 115-113, and 116-112.
It may take a while before Ennis shows that he’s the “next Crawford.” Hearn could speed up the process if he started matching ‘Boots’ against better opposition. In the three fights Ennis has had since signing with Matchroom, he’s fought these guys:
- Eimantas Stanionis
- Karen Chukhadzhian
- David Avanesyan
Ennis is now scheduled to fight Uisma Loma on October 11th in Philadelphia. That’s not a big enough name for ‘Boots’ to become the next Terence Crawford.
