“Crawford Should Warm Up At 160”: Boots Ennis Highlights Size Disparity And Inactivity As Major Hurdles For Terence Against Canelo In Potential September Clash

Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis says Terence Crawford should take a “warmup fight at 160” so he can stay sharp and get a feel for what it’s like to be hit by bigger fighters to prepare him for his fight against unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez in September.

IBF welterweight champion Ennis states he’s leaning towards Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) winning because he’s been at 168 and dropping bigger guys near 200 lbs. He’s got the experience and the power advantage over the older, smaller soon-to-be 38-year-old Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs).

Waiting for Millions

Assuming the Canelo fight is guaranteed regardless, the only reasons I can think of for why the Nebraska native Crawford is not fighting are these:

1. Fear of being exposed
2. Purse wouldn’t be gigantic

“I think Crawford should take a warmup fight at 160 just to get his body to fill with somebody a little bit bigger,” said Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to Fight Hub TV about Terence Crawford needing o take a tune-up fight at middleweight to prepare himself for what it’ll be like when he gets in the ring with Canelo Alvarez at 168 in September.

Bud Crawford has everything going against him winning. What chance he has of being triumphant, he’s throwing it out the window by staying inactive, sitting and not wanting to take any chances of losing the fight before he gets that big payday.

“I know when you go up in weight, you’ve got to put that muscle on and be heavy. So, he [Crawford] might not want to take a fight because he’s trying to build up right now. I think he should to stay sharp. That way, he won’t have a long layoff.

Terence has gotten huge paydays in his last two fights against Israil Madrimov and Errol Spence. He might not want to take a tune-up because he would likely take a tremendous pay cut. If he moved up to 160 or 168 for his warmup, he would likely want to fight a scrub rather than a talented top 15 contender.

Turki isn’t likely to pay Crawford the kind of dough he got for the Madrimov and Spence fights. Hence, he’d rather sit on the shelf, not take risks, and wait for the massive windfall fight against Alvarez. That’s the problem with fighters. Once they get spoiled rotten, you can’t get them in the ring without waving mega-millions underneath their snoots.

Crawford’s Chances

“You got to lean towards Canelo because he’s been at that weight for a long time. He’s been pinning big guys out. Crawford’s a little smaller. Canelo is really not a 168-pounder. He should be at 160, and he’s been hurting these guys. He be dropping these guys.

“These guys be way bigger than him come fight night. I know that for sure. They be close to 200 lbs, and he’s dropping those guys like that. It’s going to be a great fight. The fans want to see it, so be it,” said Ennis.