Crawford-Ennis Fight Still Six To Nine Months Away

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

Not Fear — Just Business

The Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn doesn’t think Crawford will want to fight Ennis (35-0, 31 KOs) until there is a lot of money on the table. It’s not fear on the undisputed super middleweight champion Crawford’s part. According to Hearn, Terence “knows how ‘Boots’ is, and will want top dollar for his efforts.

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

The $50 Million Problem

With the $50 million that Terence made from his legacy fight against Canelo Alvarez on September 13, 2025, he’s not going to be fighting much longer. If Crawford sits out for a year, taking 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 received for the Canelo fight because it’s actually a tougher fight for him, going up against Ennis. ‘Boots’ isn’t old and flat-footed like Alvarez.

If everything goes right, ‘Boots’ should have already bagged wins over Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Bakhram Murtazaliev to raise his popularity enough for the money to be there for Crawford.

Hearn’s Six-Month Prediction

“At the moment, the money’s not there, because ‘Boots’ isn’t big enough, but he will be in six or nine months’ time. I’m just putting it out there. Tell me a bigger fight in boxing than Terence Crawford and ‘Boots.’ A realistic fight that can be made,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to iFL TV, predicting that Terence Crawford will want a lot of money before he’d agree to fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.

Six months is too early for Ennis to have gained enough popularity to lure Crawford into fighting. It could require 9 to 10 months, as that would enable Ennis to squeeze in two big fights at 154. The negotiations with Vergil Ortiz Jr. will be complicated for Hearn and Ennis. But once they get that fight out of the way, dealing with Bakhram should be easier.

Can Boots Grow Fast Enough?

“I do,” said Hearn when asked if Ennis can beat Crawford. “Don’t forget that he’s 10 years younger than Terence Crawford. It’s all well and good that I say he’s [‘Boots’] is pound-for-pound in the making. We have got to get the resume to match it.”

Written by Ken Woods, Ringside Boxing Analyst covering world title fights since 2018.