Commentator Antonio Tarver says Terence Crawford would beat Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis if the two met up to prove who the top dog is between them.
Crawford is expected to retire soon, and he could do if he gets the Canelo Alvarez fight. Before then, he’s got to deal with Israil Madrimov, the WBA junior middleweight champion, on August 3rd.
Crawford could lose to Madrimov, wrecking his hopes of fighting Canelo. If Crawford does win, he’ll likely attempt to capture the other titles at 154 to become undisputed.
Tarver feels that the former three-division world champion Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) looked better beating David Avanesyan two years ago compared to ‘Boot’s Ennis’s performance on July 13th.
For the record, ‘Boots’ (32-0, 29 KOs) stopped Avanesyan a round earlier in the fifth compared to Crawford’s sixth-round knockout on December 10, 2022.
Boots looked more powerful and much younger than the 34-year-old version of Crawford, who fought Avanesyan two years ago.
Ennis did get hit a lot by Avanesyan, but he answered back every time. Crawford was hit as well by Avanesyan, but he put more energy into his defense than Boots did. It was a different approach.
Ennis was trying to get Avanesyan out of there, and he wasn’t focusing on trying not to get hit like Crawford. Crawford did a lot of shoving to keep Avanesyan from crowding him on the inside. The referee should have warned Crawford about the shoving, but I didn’t see one warning.
Unlike Crawford, Ennis welcomed the inside fighting and got the better of Avanesyan with body shots and uppercuts.
“He’s got a bright future. Right now, he’s firing on all cylinders,” said Antonio Tarver to Fighthype, talking about Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis after his impressive win over David Avanesyan.
“I thought he looked great outside of a few instances where he lost focus, but that’s to be expected when a guy is fighting at home,” Tarver said about Boots Ennis, who was fighting in front of his hometown crowd at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Ennis didn’t lose focus. He was trying to knock out Avanesyan and wasn’t putting his energy into avoiding being hit by him. He was in a hurry to score a stoppage of Avanesyan because he wanted to get the KO quicker than Crawford did, and was forced to take some shots to accomplish that goal.
“Against Crawford, he’ll have to tighten that mental up a lot, and his focus will have to be a lot better,” said Tarver about Boots. “That’s the fight that everyone wants to see. He separated himself from all the other welterweights. If we’re ever to fight who is truly the best welterweights, he and Crawford have to fight,” said Tarver about him wanting Ennis and Crawford to mix it up to prove who is the top dog.
If the fight did happen between Ennis and Crawford, it wouldn’t be for another two years from now. Crawford only fights once a year, and his match this year is against Madrimov. After that, Crawford will fight in early 2025. Then he’ll likely sit out until the first quarter of 2026. By then, Crawford will be nearing 39 years old, and there will be no threat to Boots Ennis.
“It looked like he was getting surprised with some shots. You’re going to get hit, but when you get surprised with a shot, that means your defenses were down. That means he snuck one in on you. That was the difference,” said Tarver about the shots Ennis got hit with by Avanesyan.
I watched the fight live, and Ennis didn’t care if Avanesyan hit him. He just wanted to land shots on him, and he was willing to take punches to get his own in.
Ennis knows that boxing is all about entertainment, and to do that, you have to be willing to get hit. Crawford was boring against Avanesyan because he moved, shoved, and ducked away from shots to avoid getting hit.
“With Crawford, he got hit [by Avanesyan], but he was aware. I think the reason he got hit was because Avanesyan threw some great shots. Crawford’s focus never wavered. He never lost focus in the fight,” said Tarver.
Crawford wasn’t aware of the many punches Avanesyan hit him with. He was getting hit while moving around the ring, trying to evade punches. He was always trying to get away from Avanesyan’s pressure, but he couldn’t do it because his wheels weren’t what they once were.
“When I look and compare the two, that was the difference. Crawford controlled Avaneysan a lot better than Boots did,” said Tarver.
Boots Ennis was on a seek-and-destroy move, coming forward all the time. Crawford was backing up, trying to escape Avanesyan’s pressure. It wasn’t nearly entertaining, and the exploding gloves made things worse.
“I’m a Crawford guy. I’m always going to run with Crawford,” said Tarver when asked to pick between Ennis and Crawford if they fought. “I saw him [Crawford] a long time ago, and my mind was made up a long time ago. He’s done nothing but solidify everything that I thought he could be.”
The guys that Crawford has beaten haven’t been good enough to solidify anything. They were all pretty. Crawford eight times at 147, and the two best guys were 34, Errol Spence and Shawn Porter. They weren’t the same fighters they’d been in the past.
“Until someone beats Crawford, I’m going to roll with him. I don’t mind losing when I’m going with my guy. Until he loses, I’m going to roll with him. I’d rather be wrong than turn my back on a fighter that I fell in love with a long time ago,” said Tarver, picking Crawford to beat Boots Ennis.
If Crawford would fight Boots Ennis, they could show the fans who’s the best, but since Terence doesn’t want to do it, you have to give it to the younger fighter by default. If an older doesn’t want to fight the young lion, you can guess why. The confidence isn’t there, and they’re not good enough.
