Eddie Hearn's Two Dream Fights: Bam vs Inoue, Boots vs Crawford

Eddie Hearn has laid out the two matchups he's chasing hardest right now, and both are built around the same goal: dragging his fighters up the pound-for-pound rankings in 2027. Speaking on the Fight Your Corner podcast, the Matchroom boss named Jesse 'Bam' Rodriguez against Naoya Inoue as his top priority, followed by Jaron 'Boots' Ennis against Terence Crawford.

One of those fights looks genuinely live. With Crawford retired since December 2025 — walking away after outpointing Canelo Alvarez, who now sits at 63-2-2 (39 KO) — and Oleksandr Usyk winding down toward a possible farewell bout against Deontay Wilder, Inoue is the man most people have installed as the sport's pound-for-pound number one. Hearn framed the Rodriguez fight in exactly those terms: number one against number two.

The One That Might Actually Happen

The Inoue-Rodriguez plan has real traction. Word is that Inoue is content to wait while Bam takes one more bantamweight assignment first — a rumored unification against WBO champion Christian Medina (27-4, 19 KO) — before the two collide in the spring. That's a fight with genuine consequences at the top of the rankings, not just a promoter's daydream.

The Ennis-Crawford idea is the tougher sell. Boots has been calling Crawford out on a loop, but 'Bud' shows zero appetite for a comeback after retiring on the highest possible note. You don't beat Canelo and then go chasing a 154-pound scrap unless the money is absurd, and nothing suggests it's close.

Ennis Has a Cleaner Path

There's a more realistic route for Ennis anyway. Already holding the WBA and WBO super-welterweight straps, his next move is expected to be a bout with IBF champion Josh Kelly (18-1-1, 9 KO), who's coming off a majority-decision win over Bakhram Murtazaliev. Beat Kelly and Boots is undisputed at 154, which does more for his pound-for-pound stock than a Crawford fight that may never materialize.

So Hearn gets to sell two dreams. One of them, Bam versus Inoue, has a launch date circling. The other is a wish list item that depends entirely on a retired man changing his mind — and Crawford has given no sign he plans to.