Canelo Alvarez Gets Elite Sparring from Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Ahead of Terence Crawford Super Middleweight Title Clash

Junior middleweight contender Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis posted a picture of himself and Canelo Alvarez today on X following a sparring session ahead of Alvarez’s defense of his Undisputed super middleweight title against Terence Crawford on September 13th.

Canelo Gets Elite Sparring

Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) is getting first-rate sparring help from the former IBF and WBA welterweight champion Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) for his battle against Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) on Netflix. With sparring like that, it’s going to be hard for Crawford to match getting similar help.

It’s excellent training for Ennis, who is making his debut at 154 against Uisma Lima (14-1, 10 KOs) on October 11th at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Sparring with Canelo will help ‘Boots’ prepare for the hard-hitting Lima.

“He’s playing in a division a little bit too big for him,” said trainer Marc Ramsey to Secondsout, talking about Crawford taking too big a jump up in weight, going from 154 to 168 to challenge Canelo. “To me, it’s like when Canelo went against [Dmitry Bivol. It’s not that he wasn’t as good as Bivol. The punch wasn’t the same effect that he had in another division [168]. ”

Ramsey trains former undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev. Crawford’s chances would be better if he’d moved up to 168 already, fought a couple of tune-ups, and stayed busy. He’s done the opposite, choosing to sit for a year, bulking up, and training. It doesn’t look good for the 37-year-old Crawford, and it raises doubts about his true rationale for taking this fight. In other words, he campaigned for the giant payday and was just going to wait until he got that money.

Trainer Questions Crawford’s Chances

“I believe there is a limit to what you can do as a human being and push to that category,” said Ramsey. “Canelo is also a very gifted guy. He’s not only physically strong. He’s talented. I believe he’s going to win. Even if he’s not at his peak anymore, he’s still physically strong and gifted. I believe he’s good enough to deliver a performance. I believe a split decision for Canelo, but it will be close,” said Ramsey.

Crawford looks capable of beating some of the super middleweights, but not Canelo. The age, size, lack of experience, and inactivity of Crawford are the main problems. Bud will have been out of the ring for 13 months when he steps inside the ring to fight Canelo next month. The Nebraska native Crawford can get away with that kind of inactivity fighting guys like Israil Madrimov, Errol Spence Jr., and Shawn Porter, but not Canelo.