Canelo’s Sparring with Jaron Ennis Might Be a Mistake, According to Teddy Atlas

Former trainer Teddy Atlas argues that Canelo Alvarez’s decision to use the elite Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis as one of his sparring partners to get him ready for his fight against Terence Crawford was a mistake.

Sparring With ‘Boots’ Ennis

Atlas says that for an older fighter like the 35-year-old Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs), using a talented fighter like Ennis could backfire, as it could wear him out in training camp. He states that for an older fighter like Canelo, who has been in the pros for 20 years since 2005, he would have used a lesser guy for sparring help.

Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) is one of two notable fighters that Canelo and his trainer Eddy Reynoso have brought in to assist in getting ready for the September 13th headliner against Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The other is #1-ranked WBA middleweight Yoenli Hernandez (8-0, 7 KOs), a fighter that Crawford would have a lot of problems trying to beat if they were to mix it up.

Canelo’s Bruised Face

Canelo’s bruised face in a picture of him and Ennis on X suggests that the sessions have been tough for the Mexican superstar. There are rumors that Ennis outperformed Canelo in the first sparring session they had. However, there’s no evidence to support this.

“I don’t want him to leave it in the gym. I don’t want him to get in that kind of war in the gym,” said podhost and former trainer Teddy Atlas on his YouTube channel, The Fight, arguing against Canelo Alvarez using Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis as his sparring partner to prep him for Terence Crawford.

The Worn-Out Champion

Atlas brings up a good point. It could backfire on Canelo if he’s worn down from hard sparring during camp with Ennis and the Cuban talent Yoenli Hernandez before facing Crawford. Going through fierce sparring with these younger fighters could potentially drain Canelo.

“I wouldn’t want wars with my guy who has been in 65 fights. Thirty-four years old [correction: 35], and getting ready for the biggest fight of his career,” said Atlas about the logic of not using a talented fighter like Ennis as one of the sparring partners for the aging Canelo.

I believe Canelo should have trained like he usually does, conserving energy, and then focused on fighting hard, and using the game plan that his trainer Reynoso has to defeat the 37-year-old Crawford. Canelo had seen fighters during his career who have used variations of the style that Bud will be using.

The Old Car Analogy

“If I have an older car that has a lot of miles on the odometer, I don’t want to be taking it on the autobahn [Germany’s highway system]. I don’t want to take it on long drives at high speed, because it’s an older car. I want to save it a little. I would pick spots for Canelo with one or two days to amp him up, but it would only be spots with someone that sharp,” said Atlas.