Terence Crawford remains unwilling to return to the sport after his December retirement, but has named the two active and undefeated fan-favourite fighters that swerved a showdown with him when he was campaigning as a welterweight.
‘Bud’ captured the WBO welterweight world title back in 2018 when he knocked out Australian Manny Pacquiao-conqueror Jeff Horn and he defended that belt on six occasions before his legendary undisputed title win against Errol Spence Jr.
The Omaha operator then moved up to the super-welterweight division and dethroned Israil Madrimov for the WBA super-welterweight crown on his way up to the super-middleweight division.
Up at 168lbs, Crawford decisioned Canelo Alvarez in a legacy-defining win, becoming boxing’s sixth five-division world champion, joining Thomas Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather and Pacquiao in that extremely elite club.
However, in an clip captured by Jai McAllister, Crawford revealed that he was willing to face the up-and-comers during his welterweight reign, but that Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr. avoided a shot at his WBO strap.
“I had the opportunity to fight Boots but Boots chose to drop out of the WBO rankings, him and Vergil [Ortiz Jr.]. So that is why I ended up fighting Shawn Porter.”
Ennis is a former unified welterweight world champion while Ortiz is the reigning WBC interim super-welterweight champion. The pair looked to be on a collision course with one another, but issues between Ortiz and his promoter Oscar De La Hoya ended those plans.
Instead, ‘Boots’ will attempt to become a two-division world champion when he challenges WBA and WBO titleholder Xander Zayas at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 27.
