Terence Crawford has named a former world champion as the “face of boxing”, convinced that Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis simply has more work to do.
While coming off a star-making performance, it is difficult to declare that Ennis, a two-weight unified champion, is now the bona fide “face of boxing”.
A selection of fans, meanwhile, have nonetheless attempted to make this argument following his sixth-round stoppage over Xander Zayas last month.
But while it was, indeed, a scintillating display that saw him claim the WBO and WBA titles, there is still a way to go before ‘Boots’ becomes a mainstream attraction.
Until then, most will continue to regard Canelo Alvarez as the sport’s biggest crossover star, even if he happens to be inching closer towards retirement.
Having consistently been involved in pay-per-view events for over a decade, the Mexican remains a widely supported figure in American and Hispanic communities.
And despite losing his undisputed super-middleweight crown to Crawford, who unanimously outpointed him in September, Canelo is still attempting to compete at world level.
As a result, ‘Bud’ named his last opponent after being asked by The Breakfast Club whether Ennis is now the face of boxing.
“Canelo’s still the face of boxing. For sure.”
Despite coming off a defeat, Alvarez has secured another world title fight against Christian Mbilli, who was elevated from ‘interim’ to full WBC champion following Crawford’s retirement announcement in December.
The pair will collide at 168lbs in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, towards the end of October, with Canelo no longer fighting on his usual Mexican Independence Day weekend.
