Floyd Mayweather believes Terence Crawford should fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis in his next outing.
The former undisputed welterweight champion has had a tough time trying to tie down an opponent for his return to the ring.
He was initially expected to rematch Errol Spence after blowing his rival out inside nine rounds to unify all four major sanctioning body belts at 147lb last July.
There was a rematch clause signed into the contract which Spence activated within 30 days yet it now appears unlikely that they will run it back anytime soon.
According to esteemed boxing journalist Dan Rafael, the rematch has fallen into doubt due to Spence recently undergoing cataract surgery which can take several months to recover from.
With a second fight against Spence shelved, for now, all of the talk surrounding Crawford’s next fight centred around Canelo Alvarez.
Multiple reports suggested that Crawford was in the running to box the Mexican superstar on Cinco de Mayo weekend in May.
However, it appears that Jaime Munguia is now the frontrunner to take on Canelo in the spring.
Crawford’s next steps are presently unclear having seen two major opportunities fall by the wayside but Mayweather insists a fight with Ennis is the one to make.
“Somebody’s gotta give ‘Boots’ the opportunity,” Mayweather told Fight Hype.
“It’s been difficult for Terence Crawford to get the Spence rematch done, it’s been difficult to get the Canelo fight done, so his other option is to fight ‘Boots’ Ennis.”
Ennis was upgraded to IBF welterweight champion in November after the major sanctioning body stripped Crawford.
Unlike the other three organisations, the IBF does not recognise rematch clauses as an exception to mandatory defences so Ennis, previously their interim champion, was handed the world title once a second fight between Spence and Crawford was confirmed.
Now that Crawford-Spence II looks dead in the water ‘Bud’ has the opportunity to become a two-time undisputed champion at the weight.
Crawford has always spoken highly of Ennis and believes he is destined to become his successor at welterweight once he hangs up his gloves.
“Oh yeah. In the future, definitely [he will be the next undisputed champion],” Crawford told Fight Hype.
“When Terence Crawford leaves the division. But right now Terence Crawford is the ultimate of all ultimates in the division.”
He now has the chance to prove that by taking on the young buck next.
