Ennis moved up from welterweight last year after winning the IBF and WBA 147-pound titles previously held by Crawford. In his first appearance at 154 pounds, “Boots” immediately made a statement by stopping Uisma Lima in the first round.

Now Ennis faces the toughest test of his tiny career in the division when he faces undefeated WBA and WBO champion Xander Zayas.

Sharing his thoughts on the matchup, Crawford praised Zayas for taking on such a challenge at this point in his career, but ultimately sided with Ennis to get the job done.

“Man, it’s a tough fight, especially for Xander at this point in his career, but it shows his heart and belief in himself. He’s ready to make history for his country and he’s going to do really well in this fight,” Crawford told Jai McAllister canal.

“I just think it’s a little too early for him at the moment.”

A victory for Ennis would take him one step closer to becoming the undisputed 154-pound champion. Sebastian Fundora currently holds the WBC title, and Josh Kelly is scheduled to make his first defense of the IBF belt on July 25 against Caoimhin Agyarko.

Meanwhile, Zayas will look to prove Crawford’s assessment wrong by handing Ennis the first defeat of his professional career and cementing his position as the division leader.

Ennis and Zayas will meet on June 27 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Fresh York for the unified super welterweight titles.

Errol Spence Jr has explained how a “screwed up” training camp cost him an uncontested showdown with Terence Crawford.

“The Truth” lost the WBC, IBF and WBA welterweight titles to “Bud” in July 2023, suffering a ninth-round defeat in what was widely believed to be a 50-50 fight.

He has remained out of the ring since then, but the 36-year-old is now preparing to face fellow former world champion Tim Tszyu on July 25.

The pair will compete in Australia at the 158-pound catchweight, and Spence will not only compete at the higher weight, but will also train under novel head coach Ronnie Shields.

A major change appears to have been necessary, both in terms of bulking and training, with the American hoping that Shields would lead him to his first win since April 2022, when he scored Final in the 10th round with Yordenis Ugas.

At least Spence is certainly confident that his preparation for Tszyu will be easier than for Crawford, whose shift-hitting style will be a nightmare to replicate in sparring.

In fact, the former unified champion said All smoky boxing that esteemed former coach Derrick James failed to arrange appropriate sparring partners.

“NO [no conversations with Derrick James about how to go about the fight]. This camp sucked. I didn’t take part in sparring. The guys didn’t fit in – I didn’t have any southpaws there to spar with. Everything was wrong.

Basically, I was living a bad life. Even outside the camp you have to live properly, so once you get to the camp, that’s it [is] Nippy.

Derrick [job to pick the sparring partners]he’s a teacher, right? We just worked on the gloves. You’d think he’d put on gloves and tell me to block shots, but nothing like that.

I just felt feeble, exhausted. Even though I exercised, I feel like I wasn’t getting stronger. The whole camp – it was just a whole crazy situation.

It’s clear that Spence also blames himself for not getting back to his best, but credit shouldn’t be taken away from one of Crawford’s career-defining performances.

The World Boxing Organization has confirmed that Miguel Cotto Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions have formally approached former world title challenger Luis “Flechita” Castillo as a last-minute replacement for Collazo’s WBO minimumweight title defense scheduled for Saturday in California.

Castillo, a 25-year-old Mexican fighter, has a professional record of 22-1-1 with 14 knockouts. However, since the WBO does not currently have a 105-pound weight class, the sanctioning body must first determine whether he can be added to its rankings before approving a championship fight.

In a statement released Tuesday, WBO president Gustavo Olivieri explained that the organization’s Ratings and Championship Committee would meet on Wednesday morning to consider the request.

“The Assessments and Championships Committee will meet tomorrow morning to carefully assess the application, the relevant facts and the athlete’s merits.” Olivieri wrote. “Once the review is completed, the Commission will issue an appropriate ruling.”

Collazo was originally scheduled to defend his WBO title against Canoy in a fight that was considered by many to be one of the most invigorating fights in the minimum weight division. Canoy’s inability to obtain a work visa forced promoters to quickly look for a replacement to keep the champion on the card.

Castillo previously challenged for the 2024 world title, losing a unanimous decision to then-WBA minimumweight champion Knockout CP Freshmart. Since that defeat, the Mexican has gained momentum with several victories that have put him back in the conversation at a global level.

Collazo, 29, unified the WBO and WBA minimum weight titles with a seventh-round victory over Thammanoon Niyomtrong in November 2025. The Puerto Rican southerner is considered one of boxing’s top fighters below the main weight classes and is looking to continue his streak towards further unification fights.

If Castillo is approved by the WBO commission, he will have just a few days to prepare for the biggest opportunity of his career.