Terence Crawford has sent the boxing world into a spin after teasing a sensational return to the ring – and directly challenging Jaron “Boots” Ennis.
Less than nine months after walking away from the sport with a perfect record, the undefeated superstar took to social media on Thursday to ask fans if they wanted to see him fight again.
More importantly, he wanted to know whether Boots was ready to welcome him back.
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“I wanna see something!” Crawford wrote on X.
“Y’all wanna see me come back and fight so bad, don’t y’all?
“Jaron Ennis, would you fight me next if I come outta retirement?”
Boots did not wait long to reply.
“1000%!” the super-welterweight champion posted.
But just as boxing fans began dreaming of a showdown, Crawford followed up with another post suggesting he may simply have been testing Ennis.
“I was just trying to see if you was really ducking @VergilOrtiz. Now I see,” Crawford wrote.
“@Timbradleyjr asked you if you had the opportunity to go up and fight @Canelo and you said you belt hunting. Now I don’t have a belt, so what the excuse now? I wanna hear this.”
The social media exchange comes only days after Crawford and Ennis traded words during the DAZN broadcast of Andy Ruiz Jr’s comeback fight.
Ennis declared he would beat Crawford if the pair ever shared a ring, prompting the retired champion to fire back “do you know what I would have done to you?”
Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn, who promotes Ennis, believes the fight will happen.
“I’ve wanted this fight for so long,” Hearn told The Ring.
“I rate Crawford so highly but I’m just such a huge believer in Jaron Ennis, and I think this will be the fight that will be the biggest fight in boxing.”
Hearn wants Ennis to continue collecting belts at 154 pounds, believing more unification fights would only make a future Crawford showdown even bigger.
And if Boots can clean out the division, the calls for Crawford to return will only grow louder.
Crawford has previously poured cold water on the match-up, questioning why he should return after conquering Canelo Alvarez in the biggest fight of his career.
But with Ennis emerging as one of boxing’s biggest young stars – and an enormous payday potentially on offer – the door may not be completely shut.
There would certainly be no shortage of bad blood.
Ennis has long chased a fight with Crawford and recently claimed the former pound-for-pound king would have been “easy work”.
Crawford, meanwhile, has accused the Philadelphia pug of building his name by calling him out.
But plenty has changed since Crawford retired.
Ennis has established himself as one of boxing’s biggest young stars and now has the WBA and WBO super-welterweight titles.
Crawford, 38, walked away last December with a flawless 42-0 record, including 31 knockouts.
His final performance was also arguably his greatest.
“Bud” jumped two divisions and outboxed Alvarez over 12 rounds in Las Vegas to become the first male fighter of the four-belt era to achieve undisputed status in three weight classes.
“Walking away as a great with nothing else left to prove,” Crawford wrote when announcing his retirement.
“I’m stepping away from competition, not because I’m done fighting, but because I’ve won a different kind of battle – the one where you walk away on your own terms.”
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Crawford’s long-time trainer Brian “BoMac” McIntyre recently insisted his fighter remained retired despite footage emerging of him back in the gym.
“Bud is done,” McIntyre said, explaining Crawford had only been helping teammate Lester Martinez prepare for a fight.
Crawford’s latest posts do not amount to a comeback announcement – but they have given fans some hope.