Newly elevated IBF champion Jaron Ennis recently took some time to give his reaction to the word of Terence Crawford being stripped of the title while he was promoted. Ennis admits that he didn’t really want to become world champion in such a way, but that it was the IBF’s decision and he still has interest in fighting Crawford. Here’s some of what he had to say below.
Ennis on his thoughts about Crawford being stripped and him being elevated to full champion
“It is what it is. They abided by the rules. It was out of my hands, it was in the IBF’s hands. At the end of the day I’m world champion now and I’m ready to make these big fights happen and fight all of the top guys, make my mark in this boxing game.
“Like I said, if I get my hands on one of these belts it’s over with. It’s over now. They might as well pack it up.”
On if he expects it to be easier to get fights now that he has the title
“Yeah, you got to get in the ring with me…what’s going to be the excuse now? I got a belt, come get the belt.”
On what fight makes the most sense for him next
“Don’t really matter. Depends on what these guys want to do. I heard something about Barrios, I think they’re trying to throw Barrios at me. Anybody, though. Barrios, Stanionis, that’s definitely another guy. Bud is still another guy. Spence still another guy, even though Spence about to go up to ‘54 or whatever. But all of those guys still on my radar. I don’t want to fight mediocre competition, I want to fight great guys, names that people know.”
On Crawford still being on his radar
“Definitely. It’s not the way we wanted to get the belt. We’d rather take the belt from somebody, it would feel better when you take it from somebody. But like I said, at the end of the day the IBF abided by the rules or whatever, it was out of my hands.”