Stephen Espinoza Says Terence Crawford Never Ducked Jaron Ennis

Espinoza said he held conversations with trainer Bozy Ennis and Crawford, who was a free agent at the time. He described both sides as receptive to the matchup. Crawford’s priority remained an undisputed welterweight championship fight against Errol Spence Jr. before his attention shifted toward a lucrative bout with Canelo Alvarez.

“I talked to Bozy a lot. They were very open to that fight,” Espinoza said on Ring Champs. “I talked to Bud about it because at that point he was a free agent. His response was, ‘I can definitely think about that.’ But at the time we had this conversation, he was laser focused on Spence. You can’t blame him. He wanted to finish that division and be undisputed.”

Espinoza rejected the idea that either side avoided the fight.

“From a pure business perspective, if I were representing him, my obligation would be to get him the biggest money fight possible. Eventually he focused on Canelo. He started talking about Canelo way earlier than everyone else. It sounded like a crazy idea at one point. I would never say Bud ducked it. It’s certainly not the case that Bozy and Boots ducked it. The timing was off.”

Crawford stopped Spence to become the undisputed welterweight champion before moving up and landing the Canelo fight. Ennis later captured world titles of his own, but the matchup never resurfaced after both fighters followed different paths. Espinoza’s account points to business opportunities and timing rather than either boxer refusing the challenge.