Jaron Ennis vs Cody Crowley cancelled
Canadian Cody Crowley (22-0, 9KO) saw his dream fight with Jaron Ennis (31-0, 28KO) go up in smoke after he failed an eye pre-fight exam.
The welterweights were due to clash on July 13 in Philadelphia for ‘Boots’ IBF World title.
Ennis will still plan to fight on the event but a replacement opponent is yet to be announced.
The #1 and #2 positions are both vacant this month, with Crowley at #3.
The next highest ranked at #4 is Giovanni Santillan, but he was knocked out by Brian Norman in his last fight.
Errol Spence Jr. is at #5 but he is moving up to super-welterweight.
Karen Chukhadzhian is next at #6, and he defeated Britain’s Harry Scarff last month in their IBF World welterweight title eliminator, but that was less than three weeks ago and the contest went the full 12, so he will unlikely be ready to go again in just over a week’s time.
#8 Roiman Villa was knocked out by Ennis last July in round 10 and hasn’t fought since, and #9 Harry Scarff also lost his last fight.
#10 Ekow Essuman was defeated in his last appearance by the aforementioned Scarff, plus he has a fight date in the diary against Owen Cooper on July 20 for English welterweight belt.
#11 Alexis Rocha won his last fight in March, so he could be ready for a call up.
#12 Josh Taylor was just defeated by rival Jack Catterall very recently, so he will not be ready.
#13 Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela has won his last three fights but hasn’t fought in seven months.
#14 David Avanesyan was last in action in December in a routine six-round win to shake off the ringrust. A former WBA World welterweight champion, who has fought Terence Crawford, ‘Ava’ would be a great choice of opponent, but he is highly avoided due to his ability along with his marketability.
Despite being at the lower end of the top of the world rankings, at #15, unbeaten Uzbek Shakhram Giyasov is signed to Matchroom so could be the dark horse when it comes to announcing the next opponent.
His last two fights have been scheduled for 12-rounds so he is more than qualified for a world title shot.
Of all the IBF top 15, Shakhram Giyasov stands out as the most likely opponent to step in against Ennis at the last minute.