Crawford On Boots Ennis Criticism

Terence Crawford says he is not coming back to fight Jaron 'Boots' Ennis — he just wanted to make a point about ducking.

Crawford appeared on Ring Champs this week and addressed the recent friction between himself and Ennis, per Bad Left Hook. The retired four-division champion has spent the past several weeks needling Boots on social media, including asking publicly if Ennis would agree to fight him next. When Boots said yes, Crawford dismissed it as proof that the welterweight will do anything to avoid facing Vergil Ortiz at junior middleweight.

"I'm not motivated to do anything. I'm chilling. I told everybody I'm retired," Crawford said. "It wasn't no call out. It was just a point to prove that one individual is ducking another individual. When you ask him about Vergil — he going after champions and he think Josh Kelly is the most skillful fighter at 154, which is a lie."

Crawford Questions Boots Ennis's Junior Middleweight Claims

Crawford took issue with Ennis calling Kelly the best fighter at 154 after stopping him in their recent bout. Crawford noted that David Avanesyan had previously knocked Kelly out, and that he himself had done the same. "Then you come and you stop him and now you saying 'this guy is the best guy in the division?' That's crazy," Crawford said. "We all know that's a lie, but you feeding that to [the masses] who really don't know too much about nothing because they just a Boots fan."

Crawford insisted he remains a fan of Ennis but added, "I'm going to call a spade a spade." He pointed out that critics would have hammered him if he had avoided top contenders in favor of belt hunting at any point in his career. "If there was any time in my career that that happened, it would be always talked about," he said. "And nobody can ever say I ever did anything like that."

Ennis has not yet responded to Crawford's latest comments. He is expected to defend his IBF welterweight title later this year.

Reported via:

• Bad Left Hook — ‘I’m going to call a spade a spade’: Terence Crawford talks criticism of Boots Ennis