Eddie Hearn: Boots Ennis Defeats Crawford Based On Crawford’s Performance Against Madrimov

Promoter Eddie Hearn says Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis has beaten Terence Crawford based on the way he looked in ‘defeating’ WBA junior middleweight champion Israel Madrimov last Saturday night.

Ennis failed to take advantage of the opportunity to play Crawford-Madrimov because he could have called Crawford. According to Hearn, Ennis would not have shouted at Crawford because it would have been a waste of time.

Even if he wanted to, Ennis wouldn’t be allowed in the ring after the fight to call out Crawford. Security was tight, watching the ring like a hawk and ready to pounce on anyone who tried to get behind the fight.

The last thing Bhuti needed was to be humiliated and taken away in handcuffs. If it was Canelo Alvarez, who wanted to get in the ring and call out Crawford, that would be a different story. The guards would give him a red carpet, treat him like royalty.

Crawford’s Reluctance to Face Ennis

Hearn feels that Crawford will stay away from Boot Ennis because he will lose to him. Also, it’s not a big enough fight to interest Crawford, who is focused on money, and he won’t make the kind of dough that would tempt him to face the undefeated Boots (32-0, 29 KOs).

Terence did not look like his old self against Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs). He looked slow and weak, not the fighter fans clamored for last year against the wrecked shell of Errol Spence’s car.

Against that version of Spence, anyone would have looked golden against him last year. The fans were fooled, thinking that Crawford was an invincible man regardless of how washed up Spence was.

Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) has lost something in his game, and Hearn feels that he will stay away from this slight in order to continue fighting against Canelo Alvarez.

“He will not shout. That’s not his style. It’s a lot of anger,” said Hearn when asked why Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis didn’t call out Crawford after the fight. “Terence Crawford will not fight the Boots. Boots beat Terence Crawford in that performance.

Crawford may not have been as good as people thought, and Madrimov, who Hearn felt was the best opponent of his 16-year professional career, exposed him as a work of hype. If you look at Crawford’s resume, there isn’t much there.

Therefore, it may not have been Crawford’s age and physical decline that caused his lack of performance against Madrimov, but rather, he was never what people thought he was.

Either way, Crawford doesn’t look good enough to beat Ennis, and he seems to know it because he doesn’t get a chance to fight him.

“Crawford won’t fight Jaron Ennis unless someone comes up with a load of money, and the fight isn’t big enough,” said Hearn. “Jaron Ennis will not be discouraged when he shows up at press conferences, shouting and screaming. He is the best welterweight in the world. He wants to win all the belts.”

Honorable wants Crawford to fight Ennis, but it’s unclear what kind of money Terence would be willing to take that risk at his age. Crawford-Boots will be a bigger fight than the Madrimov matchup, but it probably won’t happen unless it’s the Nebraska native’s only option.

As long as Crawford thinks it’s possible to get a Canelo fight, he won’t agree to a fight with Ennis. Crawford agreed to fight Madrimov because he thought it was a sure win for him, but he didn’t think that this guy was more than the 40 guys he based his book on.

“Bud is 154 years old [Ennis] he doesn’t want to leave his belt. He wants to win the undisputed welterweight title. Unless they come up with crazy money, which is not in that fight [Crawford-Ennis] right now,” Hearn said.