The newly crowned WBA and WBO junior-middleweight champion is causing a stir.
Jaron Ennis was elevated to champion after Terence Crawford was stripped of the IBF title.
He has since forged his own path as reigning champ.
Last weekend, he claimed Xander Zayas’ WBA and WBO titles with a dominant seventh-round stoppage.
In the aftermath of Ennis’ latest win, Crawford wrote on X: “Ima keep my comments to myself, but y’all get it I hope.”
However, during an appearance on Shawn Porter’s podcast ‘The Porter Way’, he was less elusive.
Crawford said: “To credit ‘Boots’, he’s a tremendous talent, and he’s no walk in the park for anyone.
“So he’s a threat to anyone that he steps foot in the ring with.
“He’s got tremendous speed. He’s got great power, defence, reflexes, all that…
“The only thing that I can say is I’m 10 steps ahead of him.
“I’m 10 steps ahead of him in smarts. And I think that’s where he would get in trouble with coming straight forward, trying to box me or trying to think shot for shot.
“I can see the holes in his game, and I can see the openings and opportunities that I’ll have because, A, I feel like I punch harder than Xander. B, I’m way sharper than Xander. C, I’m way faster than Xander.
“So the shots that Xander was hitting him with, and the shots that Xander couldn’t capitalise because his speed wasn’t there, I will be able to capitalise.
“And when I capitalise, everybody knows I’m probably one of the best counterpunchers there ever was.”
Would Terence Crawford return to fight Jaron Ennis?
Crawford retired only seven months ago, prompting speculation he could return and give Ennis a chance to prove him wrong.
However, the Omaha native made it clear that he has no interest in lacing up the gloves again.
He explained: “Never. Never. I’m retired. I’m happily retired.
“It’s Boots’ era. I pray and hope that he takes it to the extreme.
“I pray for nothing but success for him and his family. I wish him nothing but the best. And all in all, it’s all about competitiveness.
“People want to see this generation, how they would do with the previous generation, the same way with people comparing me to Floyd.
“We’ll never fight. So, I wish him nothing but the best. I want to see him succeed.”
“I hope that Jaron has half of the career that I had, or surpasses me. If he surpasses me, I’m gonna be rooting for him.
“I’m not the type of fighter that wants to see him fail. I want to see him succeed.
“I want to congratulate him. I want to see him make it to the Hall of Fame.”
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