Eddie Hearn Says Boots Ennis Is The Boxer Capable Of Beating Bud Crawford

Terence Crawford cemented himself as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world in his superfight with Canelo Alvarez ... but promoter Eddie Hearn believes there's someone out there with the ability to beat Bud -- Jaron "Boots" Ennis!

TMZ Sports talked to the legendary Matchroom Boxing promoter just days before Eddie's 28-year-old, undefeated fighter takes on Uisma Lima Saturday night in front of his hometown fans in Philadelphia.

While Saturday's bout is significant for several reasons -- including because Boots, 34-0 (with 30 KOs), is stepping up in weight to 154 lbs. for the first time -- Eddie's also keeping an eye on a bunch of big potential future matchups.

"Obviously, my job is to champion my fighters, but I believe in Boots, we have the pound for pound number one of the sport over the next four, five, six years. He's still a young man. I mean, he's 10 years younger than Terence Crawford, but this is a guy who's unified the 147-pound division and this Saturday, he moves up to fight for the interim world title at 154," Hearn told Babcock.

"We get this one. We want Virgil Ortiz. We want [Sebastian Fundora]. We want [Bakhram Murtazaliev]. Anybody at [154]. And I think this is a guy that's going to move from [147] to [154] to [160] to [168]. He has the ability to do all of that."

Crawford fought Alvarez at 168 lbs. ... and with fans salivating over a Bud-Boots fight for years, we asked Hearn if it was on their radar.

"For a long time, people have talked about Ennis against Crawford, right? What we can't do is diminish or disrespect what Terence has done. I mean, a true generational great of the sport. But if anyone's going to beat him, I believe we've got the guy to beat him," Eddie said.

Of course, Bud secured the bag of all bags last month ... so Eddie understands they "need to build Ennis into a fighter that financially makes Crawford take the fight."

If they can get the money to make sense, Hearn clearly believes it's the fight to make.

"You tell me, once we win on Saturday, once we beat an Ortiz or a Fundora, you tell me the fights that you want to see Terence Crawford in more than Jaron "Boots" Ennis. Yeah, I'll wait because that could be one of the greatest fights of all time.