Terence Crawford has shared his thoughts on the recent drama between Jaron Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr. The controversy started when Ennis turned down a fight with Ortiz, leading many in the sport to claim he ducked the challenge.
Ennis, the 27-year-old IBF Welterweight World Champion from Philly, initially welcomed a fight with Ortiz. He even considered moving up to 154 lbs. But when the opportunity came to face Ortiz in Saudi Arabia, Ennis declined and decided to stay in his current division.
The news of Ennis turning down the fight spread quickly, with fans and Hall of Fame fighters accusing him of ducking Ortiz, who fights one division up at super-welterweight.
Ennis responded to these claims in an interview with YSM Sports Media, saying it was all a misunderstanding:
"I reached out to everybody involved to get down to the bottom of what was going on and it was a bunch of miscommunication. I got a great team, and I hired them to do their job, but I just felt like I was out of the loop. From now on, I will be more in tune of what's going on."
Ennis explained his reasons for not taking the fight:
"They called on the deadline and I was undecided. I want to unify or be undisputed. Everybody was calling me an 'Email champion' because I was never able to take a title from somebody. I was given a belt. I never got that feeling of winning a world title and taking it from somebody."
Crawford, a four-weight world champion who recently vacated his undisputed belts at 147 lbs to move up (allowing Ennis to become IBF Champion), shared his thoughts on the situation with Boxing Social:
"I don't know. I don't know what was the negotiations or anything. I don't want to say anybody is ducking anybody when I don't know the situation at hand. But from the looks of it, everybody coming at him saying that he ducked. I don't know."
As for a potential fight between Ennis and Crawford, Ennis told YSM Media that moving up to face Crawford is different due to Crawford's elite status. The boxing world will certainly keep a close eye on how this situation develops in the coming months.
