Terence Crawford: Ennis, Ortiz or Canelo next? Why four-division champ deserves to go out on his own terms

Terence Crawford is moving on to bigger and better things.

Two weeks after defeating Israil Madrimov in his debut fight at super welterweight (154 pounds), the consensus pound-for-pound king has vacated his WBA welterweight title (147 pounds).

Crawford in his last fight in July 2023 put on a clinic in dismantling fellow P4P lister Errol Spence.

The fight established Crawford as the undisputed champion at welterweight and in the minds of many fight fans and experts, the best fighter in the entire sport – with all due respect to Nayoue Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk, two sensational fighters in their own rights.

Though Crawford (41-0) didn’t look at his absolute best against Madrimov – which was expected given he just had a career-high performance versus Spence, he did more than enough to get the win and become a champion across four weight classes.

But what’s next for Crawford?

Jaron Ennis at 147?

Many would love to see Crawford drop back down to 147 pounds and take on the ultra-talented Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, who is now the IBF welterweight champion.

Ennis (32-0) in July made short work of David Avanesyan – showing off his razor sharp reflexes and punching power to drop the Russian in the fifth round and forcing his corner to stop the fight.

Though some contend that Ennis’ spectacular offence and off the charts athleticism could give the 36-year-old Crawford fits, the truth is that the 27-year-old is still developing as a top-flight fighter.

Ennis has never faced a fighter as seasoned or as well-rounded as Crawford.

Crawford, despite being nearly a decade older than Ennis, remains the favourite if the two should ever fight. A loss to Crawford could derail the young man’s promising career and cost him millions of dollars.

Our take: The truth is that Ennis, for Crawford, is the textbook definition of the term too much risk for too little reward. Ennis doesn’t have a big enough name – nor is he a big enough draw to lure Crawford into the ring.

This is boxing after all – anyone can be hurt or stopped and all it takes is the right punch at the right time. And if anyone can land a life-changing punch on Crawford, Ennis has to be on the top of the list.

If Crawford goes back down to 147 pounds, no easy feat given he’s trying to get comfortable at 154, and defeats Ennis, many will wrongly take him to task for fighting Ennis before he matures as a fighter – much like Floyd Mayweather Jr received flak for fighting a 23-year-old Canelo Alvarez in 2013.

Which is why the fight is unlikely to happen – at least anytime soon.

Vergil Ortiz at 154?

Vergil Ortiz (22-0) would be a far more attractive bout for Crawford – now that he’s grown a bit more acclimatised to fighting at 154 and picked up a title to boot.

Ortiz, 26, just defeated Serhii Bohachuk in a ‘Fight of The Year’ contender to become the WBC’s interim Super Welterweight Champion.

Ortiz took a close majority decision over Bohachuk – the judges’ cards read 114-112, 114-112 and 113-113.

But what really may be of interest to Crawford is Ortiz, though he piled on his trademark body shots, left hooks and upper cuts on Bohachuk throughout the fight, hit the canvas twice (though both were flash knock downs.

“I’m ready for a challenge,” Ortiz told ESPN after the bout. “I think Bud (Crawford) is probably No. 1 pound for pound in the world and I want to show that I have what it takes to beat him.”

Most importantly, Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the most powerful man in boxing today, has said he is looking to make the Crawford vs Ortiz fight next.

Those in the know, like boxing trainer Stephen ‘Breadman’ Edwards, has warned that Crawford may be all wrong for Ortiz.

Vergil Ortiz is a real good fighter. But his engine seems to run really hot & he tries to do everything hard & fast. Fighters like that have a tough time, with smooth & steady elite opponents who can take their punches. Charles Conwell & Terence Crawford are 🚩match ups for him.

Our take: Ortiz’ recent performance – and his hint of vulnerability is exactly why what makes the bout more enticing for Crawford and his team.

Fans can expect Crawford and Ortiz to collide next at 154 pounds – and another ‘Fight of The Year’ contender if the American is back to his dazzling best.

Canelo at 168?

Some have put a dampener on a potential Crawford vs Canelo match-up after the American’s performance against Madrimov.

Madrimov promoter Eddie Hearn for example, told Boxing Scene, “To me, 168’s a huge jump.”

“Terence really struggled to come to terms with the movement and the skill and the right hand of Israil Madrimov.”

Boxing writer Dan Rafael in the aftermath of the Madrimov fight tweeted “… forget Canelo-Crawford. That Crawford gets pounded out.”

Ortiz trainer Robert Garcia threw in his own two cents, telling Boxing Scene, “Crawford’s fight was a very close fight. Maybe (Crawford’s) performance was not good enough for people to expect him to do very well against Canelo, so maybe (an Ortiz fight) is a good idea.”

Canelo Alvarez remains the face of the sport and a ‘motivation fight’ for Terence Crawford. Reuters

Complicating matters is a feud between Canelo – who remains the face of the sport – and Alalshikh

Though Alalshikh has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to make the fights the fans want – and has done so by breaking the bank for fights like Fury vs Usyk, he has since indicated that he has moved on from trying to make the fight.

Alalshikh has claimed Canelo is ‘afraid’ of Crawford, while Canelo has hit back saying he ‘doesn’t like the way (Alalshikh) talks.”

“It’s his problem, not my problem. I didn’t ask for a fight. If he wants a fight, he needs to do it my way, and not his way,” Canelo told Boxing Scene.

But Crawford has made no secret of his desire to fight Canelo.

“To be honest, that was my motivation fight,” Crawford told Bad Left Hook last week. “It’s crazy and it makes me laugh with all the antics that Canelo is doing and saying in the media and whatnot about the size and he won’t get no credit and all these types of things but Canelo been fighting smaller guys his whole career.

“Canelo been making his own catchweight for years. Canelo fought a smaller Mayweather, Canelo fought a smaller Amir Khan. He fought Jermell Charlo. And I’m pretty sure he didn’t make as much money with all those guys — except Mayweather — even Berlanga right now, that he will with me…he has all these excuses why he don’t want to make a fight with me.

Our take: Ultimately, it remains up to Alalshikh – who has hinted that Ortiz is the front-runner to fight Crawford. Still, if Crawford remains insistent and Canelo comes around, nothing would be bigger than the two stepping in the ring together.

Why Crawford deserves to end things on his own terms

Remember, Crawford is more of a natural junior welterweight. Not only did he clean out that division, he moved up to welterweight and handily beat the biggest name the division had to offer. Now, Crawford is poised to do the same at super welterweight.

The idea that Crawford could move up to 168 pounds to fight the biggest name in the sport over the past decade should excites boxing fans of all stripes.

Win, lose or draw, it would forever etch his name in the history books for daring to be great.

After all, no one begrudges the great Roberto Duran, a natural featherweight, his brutal loss to Tommy Hearns at welterweight. Duran would go on to lose again to Marvellous Marvin Hagler at middleweight.

Sugar Ray Robinson too lost to light heavyweight champion Joey Maxim in their 1952 bout – though he was more defeated by the heat than his opponent.

Roy Jones Jr too lost after dropping back down from heavyweight to light heavyweight.

Both Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson inflicted devastating knockouts on Jones. Close observers of the boxing still argue that there has never been a greater champion, pound for pound, than Roy Jones Jr.

Even if Crawford loses to Canelo in such a manner, few would think less of him for having taken on the challenge itself.

Crawford has fought several top fighters, though until Spence he has been consistently unable to land big names like Manny Pacquiao.

Now, at the end of his career, Crawford deserves to go out on his terms – against the opponents of his choosing.

And he deserves the support of the fight fans and the promoters.

Deven Kanal kicked off his media career at Reader's Digest after graduating from The Times School of Journalism. With more than 13 years of work experience in the media, he has written on a variety of subjects — from human interest stories to sports, politics and pop culture see more