Ennis To Face Avanesyan In Title Defense: Can He Outshine Crawford?

Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis’ first defense of his IBF welterweight title will be against David Avanesyan on July 13th; a fighter knocked out by Terence Crawford in his last fight two years ago in 2022.

Ennis will defend against Avanesyan on DAZN on Saturday, July 13th, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Boots had been scheduled to defend against #3 IBF Cody Crowley (22-0, 9 KOs), but has medical problems that prevented him from taking the fight.

Can Ennis Outshine Crawford?

One good that can come out of Boots Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) fighting the 35-year-old Avanesyan (30-4-1 18 KOs), who some fans call “amnesia,” is to see if he can knock him out quicker than Crawford did in his sixth round KO in 2022 in Omaha, Nebraska.

If Boots can blast out Avanesyan in lightning-quick fashion, the boxing public will realize that he’s a better talent than the 36-year-old Crawford and would beat him if given the opportunity.

Avanesyan gave Crawford big problems in their fight two years ago, landing a lot of heavy shots to the head of him before wilting in the sixth round.

Avanesyan’s Past Performance

Fans who think Crawford is invincible due to his recent win over a weight-drained Errol Spence need to look at the problems Terence had against Avanesyan to put things in perspective.

Avanesyan was putting hands on Crawford before getting stopped, and showing that he’s not as good as people think. Crawford was hit with some shots in that fight that would have knocked a truck over.

Although Crawford took them, he didn’t look good. He was lucky his chin held up because his head was snapping back each time Avanesyan connected.

That might be the only thing the 26-year-old Ennis can gain from fighting the older, inactive fighter like Avanesyan next rather than one of the top five-level contenders.

The Perks of Fighting a Past-His-Prime Opponent

Unfortunately, even if Ennis destroys Avanesyan in a quicker, better fashion than Crawford, the critics will downplay his accomplishment by pointing out that he’d already softened up and been inactive for two years.

Besides the Crawford comparison, Boots isn’t going to gain much from obliterating Avanesyan in record time. The guy is too old and inactive for him to be worth much for Boots to destroy.

That’s the main negative about Boots Ennis using Avanesyan as his replacement: He won’t get any credit for beating this guy, considering his old age, inactivity, and KO loss in his previous fight.

It’s too bad that Boots Ennis’ promoter, Eddie Hearn, couldn’t find a younger, better, and higher-ranked contender to be used as the replacement opponent for him to fight on July 13th.