The unified welterweight champion, Terence Crawford, appears to have no desire to fight IBF champion Jaron Ennis despite an opportunity lurking for him to become undisputed for the third time of his career. In a case that looks resoundingly familiar to when Jermell Charlo chose to fight Canelo Alvarez rather than Tim Tszyu, Crawford appears hellbent on a money-spinning fight with Alvarez which would simultaneously cause the welterweight division to stagnate as long as he would hold on to his 147 lbs titles.
As the rematch with Errol Spence Jr. (28-1, 22 KO’s) is purportedly off―though this has not been confirmed officially as of yet, Jaron Ennis (31-0, 28 KO’s) remains the only viable opponent for Terence Crawford (40-0, 31 KO’s) to face given Ennis currently holds the IBF welterweight title―a title that was taken off of Crawford and directly handed to Ennis in a strange set of circumstances.
A fight with Ennis would become an undisputed fight as the two would unify all their titles. However, Crawford appears to have zero interest in meeting this historic achievement as his trainer, Brian “BoMac” McIntyre made clear during an interview with FightHype.
“He [Jaron Ennis] don’t bring nothing to the table,” McIntyre stated after being asked whether Crawford would be interested to fight Ennis.
“He got our leftovers. Why would we go backwards? We’re looking for bigger and better fights.“
At the moment, the only fighter Crawford seems to be interested in is Canelo Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KO’s), but the disparity in weight classes―with Alvarez being at least three weight classes up―makes it a fight that would only benefit Crawford. Additionally, Crawford would likely not stay at 168 lbs if he were to win against Alvarez, thus there would be no added benefit to anyone but Crawford himself in fighting Alvarez.
Moreover, Crawford’s willingness to fight Alvarez rather than Jaron Ennis shows a similar case to Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KO’s) who faced Alvarez last year rather than fight current WBO super welterweight champion Tim Tszyu (24-0, 17 KO’s). Charlo was stripped of his WBO title the day he fought Alvarez, and Crawford might be faced with similar circumstances if he chooses to continue to chase an Alvarez fight.
As was witnessed on September 30th when Charlo faced Alvarez, the jump in weight from super welterweight/junior middleweight proved to be too much for Charlo as he was soundly beaten over twelve rounds. Following that fight, Charlo’s career continued to deteriorate as he later vacated his IBF title and was recently stripped of his WBC 154 lbs title. In comparison, Crawford would need to jump up three divisions to face Alvarez for a gamble to become the undisputed super middleweight champion.
Both Charlo and Crawford appear to have no qualms in holding up their respective divisions in lieu of chasing a career high payday to fight Alvarez, seemingly forgetting that they still hold titles in their own weight class that need to be defended―or at least vacated if they are planning to fight anywhere other than their own division.
Rationally speaking, there is no viable reason why Crawford cannot fight Ennis if both their schedules are currently free of any fights. Though Brian McIntyre claimed Ennis “brought nothing to the table”, his IBF title is incentive enough for Terence Crawford to become undisputed for the third time―especially given that same title was literally taken from Crawford and subsequently handed to Ennis.
Alternatively, a fight with Ennis can help better build up a potential Alvarez-Crawford fight; provided Terence Crawford makes it past Ennis. In the process of fighting and defeating Ennis, Crawford can continue to make history if he beats both Ennis and Alvarez to become an unprecedented four-time undisputed champion.
