Benavidez Dares Crawford To Face Boots And Vergil At 154

David Benavidez says he’d like to see Terence Crawford return to 154 for big fights against Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr.

Those would be risky fights for the 38-year-old Crawford, and ones that wouldn’t pay the kind of money he earned in his ‘Fight of the Century’ against Canelo Alvarez on September 13, 2025.

Crawford holds the undisputed super middleweight championship that he won from Canelo Alvarez by a 12-round unanimous decision. Those two are said to be in negotiations for a rematch in 2026. The payday that Crawford will get fighting Canelo again would be enormous, and far more than he’d receive facing Ennis or Vergil Jr.

“I’d like to see him go down to 154 and fight ‘Boots.’ That’s a great fight, and fight Vergil Ortiz. Maybe even [Jermell] Charlo. That one that was champion at 154,” said David Benavidez to Ring Magazine about wanting to see Terence Crawford return to junior middleweight for big fights.

Terence has already ruled out a return to junior middleweight after vacating his WBA title on September 18, 2025. If he continues to fight after his potential rematch with Alvarez, it’s believed he’ll drop down to 160 to go after his sixth-division world title.

The middleweight champions are vulnerable, and Crawford would likely stand a better chance of beating one of them than he would ‘Boots’ Ennis or Ortiz Jr.

One big problem preventing Crawford from returning to 154 is that he wants to be among the four all-time greats on the Mount Rushmore of boxing. If he fights one of them, he’s putting his chances of becoming an all-time great at risk.

Terence already turned up his nose at the possibility of fighting David Benavidez, which would have strengthened his case to replace one of these four greats on Rushmore:

1. Sugar Ray Robinson
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Henry Armstrong
4. Joe Louis

For Crawford to be among those four, he would have to agree to fights against Ennis, Vergil Jr., and Benavidez because his resume is too barren of quality names for him to have a place on the Mount Rushmore of boxing. His refusal to fight Benavidez was unbecoming of an all-time great. Those talents would have never turned down a fight against a big name that they might lose to.