ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey – Jaron Ennis realizes that Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford have rematch clauses in their contracts for their upcoming welterweight championship showdown.
Ennis considers Spence-Crawford “a 50-50 fight,” one that truly could go either way. He hopes, however, that he sees Spence or Crawford dominate from his ringside seat July 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“Most definitely, I’mma be there,” Ennis said during a post-fight press conference following his 10th-round knockout of Roiman Villa on Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall’s Adrian Phillips Theater. “I’mma be in the building and, you know, we gonna see what they do. You know, hopefully it’s a one-sided fight, nobody get a rematch. And I’ll be next, you know?”
Philadelphia’s Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs, 1 NC) wants nothing more than to prove himself against Spence (28-0, 22 KOs), the IBF/WBA/WBC 147-pound champion, or Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs), who owns the WBO belt. The Crawford-Spence loser has 30 days from the night of their fight to exercise his contractual right to an immediate rematch.
Assuming Spence and Crawford fight twice, the 26-year-old Ennis will have to find another opponent for his desired third fight of 2023. Former WBA/WBC welterweight champ Keith Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs, 1 NC) and ex-WBA champ Yordenis Ugas (27-5, 12 KOs) are expected to fight next, but Ennis mentioned Thurman, Ugas and WBA secondary champ Eimantas Stanionis as attractive alternatives to Spence or Crawford.
Lithuania’s Stanionis (14-0, 9 KOs, 1 NC) needs an opponent now that his mandated title defense versus Vergil Ortiz Jr. (19-0, 19 KOs) has been scrapped altogether after a third postponement last week due to Ortiz’s ongoing health issues.
“I’m super-serious about Keith Thurman,” Ennis said. “I was tryin’ to fight him, you know, in June. But, you know, things didn’t [follow] through. But, you know, hopefully [we] do fight. If not, you know, we got a lotta great options out here. You know, we still got Ugas. He a nice, former world champion.
“You got Stanionis, you got a lotta other guys, you know, besides Bud [Crawford] and Spence. But everybody know I want the main guys. I feel like I’mma be able to showcase my ability and my talent against those elite-level guys. I feel like that’ll bring something else outta me, you know?”
While Ennis is simply remaining optimistic about boxing the Crawford-Spence winner, the prevailing feeling within the boxing industry is that neither Crawford, 35, nor Spence, 33, will defend four welterweight titles against Ennis. Whether they fight once or twice, Spence and Crawford could move up to 154 pounds thereafter, rather than facing the emerging Ennis.
And as much as Ennis wants Crawford or Spence to eliminate the need for a rematch in their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event, the IBF interim welterweight champion expects a back-and-forth dogfight two weeks from Saturday night.
“It’s a 50-50 fight,” Ennis told BoxingScene.com. “It’s gonna come down to whoever in the best shape, whoever got the most dog, whoever prepared the best. We won’t know who the best man really is until fight night. You know, but may the best man win. It’s gonna be whoever hungriest on that night, whoever prepared the best for that night.”
By Keith Idec