Eddie Hearn believes his latest charge Jaron Ennis is the toughest fight available to Terence Crawford.
Hearn is currently in Philadelphia promoting Ennis’ first bout since signing with his Matchroom stable against David Avanesyan on Saturday, whilst he is also the lead promoter for Crawford’s clash with WBA super welterweight champion, Israil Madrimov in Los Angeles on August 3.
‘Boots’ Ennis and Crawford have long been linked to an all-American showdown, although any bout between the pair is now likely to happen at super welterweight, after the latter’s decision to move up in weight.
“One of the best fights in boxing is Crawford against Boots,” Hearn told a group of reporters on Thursday.
“But we wanna take care of business at 147. I feel like we need to unify, we need those tough tests and having done a huge gate here on Saturday, I know we can fill the whole place up against the likes of [WBC champion, Mario] Barrios and [WBA champion, Eimantas] Stanionis and that’s what we’ve got to do before we move to 154.
“If Crawford is successful [against Madrimov], for me that’s a dream fight, not just as Boots’ promoter, but for boxing.”
Hearn feels Crawford, who hasn’t fought since becoming undisputed welterweight champion by stopping Errol Spence Jr last July, will fall short in his bid to become a four-weight world champion when he meets Madrimov.
Despite this, the Matchroom chairman is adamant that ‘Boots’, who fights in his hometown for the first time in over five years on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center live on DAZN, presents the most significant challenge to the Omaha native, who has also been linked to a clash with undisputed super middleweight champion, Canelo Alvarez.
“Crawford’s a brilliant fighter,” he added.
“I’m sure he’s not afraid of anyone.
“I’m sure he believes he beats Jaron Ennis, but also [his trainer] Bo Mac, Crawford, they’re also incredibly knowledgeable boxing people and they know how good Ennis is.
“I think that’s the toughest fight out there for him.
“I don’t think they’ll be queuing up for it, but once the demand is there and once someone like His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] says, ‘I want to make that fight’, I’m sure they’ll take that fight.”
Hearn promoted Crawford’s maiden world title tilt, when he dethroned Ricky Burns to win the WBO lightweight title in 2014 and insists that he will look to make a bout between ‘Bud’ and Ennis, should he overcome Madrimov.
“I think he gets beat on August 3.
View this post on Instagram
“But we’ll discuss it after August 3 if he manages to get by Israil Madrimov, then of course we’re gonna be chasing him down.
“Don’t forget Terence Crawford’s first ever world championship fight was on my show in Scotland, he beat Ricky Burns to become world lightweight champion.
“If he beats Madrimov, then Crawford would have dethroned another Matchroom world champion, so I won’t stop until we get him and I believe we get him with Boots.”
