Crawford-Ennis still fights six to nine months

Eddie Hearn believes Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis will grow in popularity enough in the next “six or months” for Terence Crawford to agree to fight him.

No fear – just business

Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn doesn’t think Crawford will want to fight Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs) until there’s a lot of money on the table. It’s no fear from undisputed super middleweight champion Crawford. According to Hearn, Terence “knows what ‘boots’ is like, and will want a dollar for his efforts.”

Hearn is convinced the younger Ennis, 28, can already beat the 38-year-old Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs), and will prove it to the world when the fight finally takes place. Ennis will have to work fast to build the fight big enough to get Omaha, Nebraska native Crawford to agree before he retires.

The $50 million problem

With the $50 million Trance earned from his legacy fight against Canelo Alvarez on September 13, 2025, he won’t be fighting much longer. If Crawford sits out a year and takes his customary victory lap, he won’t be back until September or October 2026.

Crawford won’t want to take a massive pay cut to fight Ennis. He’ll expect the same money he got for the Canelo fight because it’s actually a tougher fight for him, facing Ennis. ‘Boots’ is not old and flat like Alvarez.

If all goes well, ‘Boots would already need to get wins over Virgil Ortiz Jr. and Kerem Mortzelev to raise his popularity enough for the money to be there for Crawford.

Haran’s six-month forecast

“At the moment, the money is not there, because ‘Boots’ is not big enough, but it will be In six or nine months. I’m just posting it. Tell me a bigger boxing match than Terence Crawford and ‘Boots’. A realistic fight that can be done,” said promoter Eddie Hearn iFL TVIt is predicted that Terence Crawford will want a lot of money before he agrees to fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.

Six months is too soon for Ennis to gain enough popularity to tempt Crawford into a fight. This may require 9 to 10 months, as it would allow Ennis to squeeze in two big fights at 154. The negotiations with Virgil Ortiz Jr. will be complicated for Hearn and Ennis. But once they get that fight out of the way, dealing with Bakram should be easier.

Can boots grow fast enough?

“I do,” Hearn said when asked if Ennis could beat Crawford. “Don’t forget he’s 10 years younger than Terrence Crawford. It’s fine and dandy for me to say he (‘Boots’) is pound-for-pound in the making. We’ve got to get the resume to match.”

Written by Ken Woods, a ringside boxing analyst who has been covering world championship fights since 2018.