Hearn expects Ennis to face Crowley in July in Philadelphia; Still hoping Crawford-Ennis happens
EDDIE HEARN hasn't given up hope on the fight many in the boxing world want most for Jaron “Boots” Ennis, against Terence Crawford.
The three-weight world champion has stated that he is not interested in what Crawford sees as a high-risk, low-reward fight with Ennis, but Hearn thinks there could be enough money to eventually change Crawford's intentions. Looking ahead, Ennis' new promoter is focused on bringing the unusually talented Philadelphia native to his hometown for a mandatory defense of his IBF welterweight title against Cody Crowley in July.
“Obviously he has Cody Crowley [as] mandatory,” Hearn told a group of reporters on Thursday (April 18) after the Devin Haney-Ryan Garcia press conference at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. “He has to deal with it. I want to do 'Boots' against [Eimantas] Stanionis. I want to do 'Boots' against [Mario] Same goes for Barrios. I think there's a good opportunity now to do big unification fights for 'Boots', whereas before there probably wasn't.
“Crawford, [Errol] Spence, they all know how good Jaron is. And if you can get other guys in and pay them well, I think they'll fight Jaron Ennis. But hopefully he'll be out in July, get him home to Philadelphia, and then I'd like to make a big unification fight for him, ultimately leading to what I think is one of the The biggest and best fight in the sport, it's Terence Crawford against Jaron Ennis.”
The fight against Lithuania's Stanionis (14-0, 9 KOs, 1 NC) and San Antonio's Barrios (28-2, 18 KOs) could become a legitimate welterweight title unification bout for Ennis (31- 0, 28 KO, 1 NC) if Stanionis, the WBA world champion, and Barrios, the WBC interim champion, win their respective bouts on the Canelo Alvarez-Jaime Munguia undercard on May 4 5 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. If Barrios defeats Argentina's Fabian Maidana (22-2, 16 KOs) and Stanionis defeats Venezuela's Gabriel Maestre (6-0-1, 5 KOs), they will likely be elevated to full champion status because of Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) is expected to relinquish his WBA and WBC welterweight titles to compete in the super welterweight division next.
Crowley (22-0, 9 KOs), a southpaw from Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, was considered an underdog when he faced Ennis in their 12-round title fight.
Ennis, 26, will likely have finished more than a year off by the time he faces Crowley. He has not fought since knocking out Venezuela's Roiman Villa (26-2, 24 KOs) in round 10lame pants round last July at Boardwalk Hall's Adrian Phillips Theater in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Hearn's Matchroom Boxing announced the impactful signing of Ennis to a multi-fight contract on April 10.
