Crawford is in nowhere land

[BoxingParadigm]

Bud should fight Danny Garcia as a stay busy fight at 154 before challenging for the WBO title there or maybe challenge Lara for his middleweight title.

[crimsonfalcon07]

That era is over, and TC ended it emphatically. I would like to see TC defend the throne against Ennis, in order to begin a new chapter. But if he's not going to do that, he needs to let that WBO title go.

This is very much like saying Mayweather needed to defend his throne against Bud and Spence. His last "fight" vs McGregor took place in 2017, and the one vs Berto was 2015. Bud got the WBO belt in 2018 and Spence got the IBF in 2017. Very similar timing to Ennis. Was Mayweather's legacy forever damaged by not fighting them?

Ennis should be carving out his own legacy. He's 10 years younger than Crawford, just as Crawford was 10 years younger than Floyd. Bud has beaten the guys he needed to from his era.

Ennis represents a new era, and if he wants to fight Bud, he should have put the work in fighting the rest of the guys from his era. He's fought a faded Lipinets, and Roiman Villa? No Stanionis, no Ortiz Jr, no Crowley, no Butaev, no "Eggs" Benn, nor the older guys like Thurman, Avanesyan, Ugas. No Santillan, Giyasov, Rocha, Kavaliauskus. At this point, he's only an email champ and jumped up contender. He doesn't fill stadiums or sell PPV's. His hype is based on eye test, not resume.

Bud, at least, was undisputed champion at 140 when Mayweather was on the way out. That's a much better claim to fighting the king than Lipinets and Villa, and still would have come in a pale second to the massive PPV that was McGregor v Mayweather.

Also, Ennis isn't the WBO mandatory and has nothing to do with that belt. In fact, he chose to avoid the WBO route that led to Bud and go for IBF instead, which wasn't getting defended regularly by Spence.

If you think Bud needs to vacate the WBO belt, it would be for Santillan, which hasn't even been ordered yet. And GTFO with that nonsense. Champs are allowed to keep their belts until their mandatory has been ordered, at which point they have to fight or vacate. That's not happened yet. You should be way more concerned with the likes of Canelo, Jermall Charlo, Tank Davis, and Tyson Fury.

[kiaba360]

This is very much like saying Mayweather needed to defend his throne against Bud and Spence. His last "fight" vs McGregor took place in 2017, and the one vs Berto was 2015. Bud got the WBO belt in 2018 and Spence got the IBF in 2017. Very similar timing to Ennis. Was Mayweather's legacy forever damaged by not fighting them?

Ennis should be carving out his own legacy. He's 10 years younger than Crawford, just as Crawford was 10 years younger than Floyd. Bud has beaten the guys he needed to from his era.

Ennis represents a new era, and if he wants to fight Bud, he should have put the work in fighting the rest of the guys from his era. He's fought a faded Lipinets, and Roiman Villa? No Stanionis, no Ortiz Jr, no Crowley, no Butaev, no "Eggs" Benn, nor the older guys like Thurman, Avanesyan, Ugas. No Santillan, Giyasov, Rocha, Kavaliauskus. At this point, he's only an email champ and jumped up contender. He doesn't fill stadiums or sell PPV's. His hype is based on eye test, not resume.

Bud, at least, was undisputed champion at 140 when Mayweather was on the way out. That's a much better claim to fighting the king than Lipinets and Villa, and still would have come in a pale second to the massive PPV that was McGregor v Mayweather.

Also, Ennis isn't the WBO mandatory and has nothing to do with that belt. In fact, he chose to avoid the WBO route that led to Bud and go for IBF instead, which wasn't getting defended regularly by Spence.

If you think Bud needs to vacate the WBO belt, it would be for Santillan, which hasn't even been ordered yet. And GTFO with that nonsense. Champs are allowed to keep their belts until their mandatory has been ordered, at which point they have to fight or vacate. That's not happened yet. You should be way more concerned with the likes of Canelo, Jermall Charlo, Tank Davis, and Tyson Fury.

I agree that Ennis' resume leaves a lot to be desired, and he has to bear some responsibility...but certain things are working against him. He was partnered with a small promotional outfit, connected to a network that was prioritizing their relationship with PBC over everything else. Ennis has been on the outside looking in, just like Crawford was. The most obvious match-up was Danny Garcia in Philly, but it didn't materialize. Ennis is clearly high-risk/low-reward. Of all the contenders, he may have the worst risk:reward ratio. Now that Ennis is a free agent, we're going to see if Ennis' career turns into something worth remembering, or if he turns into an inactive hype-job.

If TC has no intention of staying at 147 any longer, he should relinquish the WBO title. I'm perfectly fine with his moving to 154. If the WBO is allowing him to hold on to the WW title, it must be for a reason. I did neglect to mention Santillan (WBO #1), and I wouldn't mind that bout. But I can't imagine TC working with TR in the near future. Santillan should have the most buzz of all the contenders after beating Rocha. I mentioned Ennis because he's the guy with the buzz and he technically has the IBF title; I would've mentioned Vergil Ortiz too, but he's no longer at 147lb. I'd like to see TC defend the Undisputed throne at least once, just like I wanted Jermell to do. Santillan or Ennis, both are formidable. If he could face the winner of Ennis/Santillan, even better. Defending the throne would be TC's way of doing Boxing a favor.

[Teetotaler69]

Pbc keeping my boy bud inactive. Wonder if he'll sue haymon for racism lol

[kiaba360]

Shawn Porter (who was most closely associated with the IBF title) breaks down the BUSINESS of boxing perfectly, for those that don't understand.

The bottom line is that Crawford COULD and SHOULD have fought Boots because Boots was interim which made him mandatory AND he could have. The rematch clause didn't block Crawford from fighting Boots, but after Boots defended the interim against Villa, it forced Crawford's hand.

The goal is to keep the titles on TV no matter what; and if you're sitting idle, you're not doing that. Which is why it's a joke that Keef was allowed to sit on WBA for so long, why both Charlos have been sitting inactive, etc.

I don't have any venom for the IBF stripping TC. I used to think they took a long time to enforce a mandatory, but that's water under the bridge. Ennis has had the interim title since July 2023, was upgraded in November.....and doesn't have a fight lined up. Last we heard, there was trouble with Ennis/Crowley. We also don't know if Ennis has entered into a new promotional deal with any notable entity. So much for wanting to keep the title on TV.

[crimsonfalcon07]

Defending the throne would be TC's way of doing Boxing a favor.

Why does TC need to do boxing a favor? As you said, he was on the outside looking in.

And he would also be "doing boxing a favor" by testing himself in a new division. Boots is largely an untested contender, just like the rest of them, BECAUSE they aren't fighting each other. There's 12 guys that have been ranked in the top 10, and I'm not even including Spence, or Porter, or Bud, that he hasn't even tried to fight. He was the one who signed with that small promoter instead of to PBC, even though he still fought primarily on PBC cards, just as Bud stayed with Top Rank.

So what if Bud beats him? You know as well as I do that Boots would turn into a hypejob who failed when he stepped up, and Bud would get no credit BECAUSE BOOTS HAS NO RESUME. He's not a money fight BECAUSE HE HAS NO RESUME. He's got zero casual appeal because he's been acting like a primadonna, demanding to be a main event fighter, sitting out when he could be fighting on the undercard of big fights. Chump didn't even show to Spence v Crawford, let alone fight on the card. If he wanted that smoke, why wasn't he there to challenge?

If anything, boxing owes Bud the money fights he was denied for so long. Ennis is part of a new era, and he needs to build his own name. Bud doesn't gain squat for his resume beating him, because he's not developed into a real threat. When there's nearly 20 other guys in the division who are ranked that he hasn't fought, he doesn't mean anything. Certainly less than a REAL champ a division up. He's not challenging his own division, let alone trying to set himself up at 154, 160, or 168. He's not even taking on Barrios, Teo, Haney, etc. He does not deserve a Bud fight, and certainly not for the WBO. We will see what he does in the next year. Based on his history, I'm expecting him to turn into a 147lb version of Tank Davis.

[MulaKO]

Fundora isn't managed by Haymon, he's managed by SL. SL has the final say

Yeah right
Lmfao

[crimsonfalcon07]

The bottom line is that Crawford COULD and SHOULD have fought Boots because Boots was interim which made him mandatory AND he could have. The rematch clause didn't block Crawford from fighting Boots, but after Boots defended the interim against Villa, it forced Crawford's hand.

More nonsense from and lies from Leicesterage...

Ennis was interim for SPENCE not Bud. Spence is the one who didn't defend his interim. He had 5 months after becoming interim to petition for his shot before Bud v Spence entered negotiations. He didn't do that. Spence only defended his IBF belt one time in 4 years. That is the ONLY reason Boots was even in the picture at all. Because SPENCE, not Bud, didn't fulfill his obligations and "sat on the belt." And Leicesterage was strangely silent about that.

[kiaba360]

Why does TC need to do boxing a favor? As you said, he was on the outside looking in.

And he would also be "doing boxing a favor" by testing himself in a new division. Boots is largely an untested contender, just like the rest of them, BECAUSE they aren't fighting each other. There's 12 guys that have been ranked in the top 10, and I'm not even including Spence, or Porter, or Bud, that he hasn't even tried to fight. He was the one who signed with that small promoter instead of to PBC, even though he still fought primarily on PBC cards, just as Bud stayed with Top Rank.

So what if Bud beats him? You know as well as I do that Boots would turn into a hypejob who failed when he stepped up, and Bud would get no credit BECAUSE BOOTS HAS NO RESUME. He's not a money fight BECAUSE HE HAS NO RESUME. He's got zero casual appeal because he's been acting like a primadonna, demanding to be a main event fighter, sitting out when he could be fighting on the undercard of big fights. Chump didn't even show to Spence v Crawford, let alone fight on the card. If he wanted that smoke, why wasn't he there to challenge?

If anything, boxing owes Bud the money fights he was denied for so long. Ennis is part of a new era, and he needs to build his own name. Bud doesn't gain squat for his resume beating him, because he's not developed into a real threat. When there's nearly 20 other guys in the division who are ranked that he hasn't fought, he doesn't mean anything. Certainly less than a REAL champ a division up. He's not challenging his own division, let alone trying to set himself up at 154, 160, or 168. He's not even taking on Barrios, Teo, Haney, etc. He does not deserve a Bud fight, and certainly not for the WBO. We will see what he does in the next year. Based on his history, I'm expecting him to turn into a 147lb version of Tank Davis.

This is the part that has me worried about his future. I think Ennis may be avoided by some, but I don't know if he's doing himself any favors either. I know some fans are against Conor Benn for his drug test fiasco, but I found it alarming when Bozy dismissed Benn as a potential opponent.....and it made me start wondering, "Are there any other opponents that Team Ennis has dismissed for whatever reason?" That affected my interpretation of Team Ennis' lawsuit against his former promoter. He blamed NOW Boxing for not keeping him active enough....but if Bozy was willing to dismiss Benn, how can they complain about inactivity? Now there seems to be an issue with getting Crowley in the ring. He's getting close to a year's worth of inactivity. A boxer cannot rely on the "Boogeyman" tag forever. Ultimately, the resume will have to speak for itself. I may have fallen victim to the 'eye test' in regards to Ennis because I find him entertaining, but I'm noticing the red flags. It's extremely difficult to become a fan of someone who's having a stop-start career. He's on his way to becoming Andrade. He won't be 26 forever.

[HeadShots]

Crawfish is the most overrated fighter in the last 20 years.


he has beat no one. None