Terence Crawford’s future is in limbo.

After scoring the undisputed super middleweight title with a definitive unanimous decision win against Canelo Alvarez, he has alluded to retirement, a move to 160 pounds and defending his 168-pound titles while also shutting down runs at 154 and 175.

If Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn can have it his way, he prefers Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) to take on former unified welterweight champion Jaron Ennis, who’s getting ready to make his 154-pound debut on Oct. 11 against Uisma Lima.

“Terence Crawford vs. Jaron Ennis, for me, is the best fight in American boxing,” Hearn told reporters on Wednesday. “But it needs to be a payday for Crawford to get him interested because Crawford knows how good Boots is. I'm not saying that Crawford thinks he's going to lose to Boots, but he knows that it is a real fight. For me, Boots is the new Crawford. We just have to go out and get the fights to show how great he is.”

During Crawford’s post-fight press conference Saturday, when Ennis was brought up as a future fight, the five-division champion said he wouldn’t take on Ennis because he’s not returning to the junior middleweight division. For such a fight to move forward, Ennis would have to agree to another weight with Crawford.

“The problem is that Crawford is going to only want to fight for big money, and there are only certain fights that will generate that kind of money,” said Hearn.

“You're talking about a different animal in Terence Crawford. A guy whose IQ is just off the level. You've got to have the experience and be really well-schooled to compete with that guy, and that's why I said I like the Boots fight.”

Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) was a former 147-pound IBF mandatory challenger for Crawford, who moved up to 154 pounds last year to beat Israil Madrimov for the WBA title. In doing so, Ennis was elevated from interim to full champion by the sanctioning body and went on to become The Ring and WBA champion as well by beating Eimantas Stanionis by stoppage in April.

As he trained for Lima, Ennis also served as a sophisticated sparring partner for Alvarez as he prepared for Crawford. But the high-level training couldn’t allow Alvarez to level up, as the Mexican star admitted after defeat that his body failed him.

“It was an amazing performance by Terence Crawford,” Hearn said. “I'm gutted for Canelo, but I am actually pleased that Crawford is getting the opportunity to show how great he is because his resume hasn't really allowed that. Don't get me wrong, he's had some good wins. But he could have beaten so many more of the elite guys from his era. To do that at 38 is impressive.

“We have a tendency to retire people off. I think it's a great way to go out, but I actually think Crawford can move down and win a world title at 160 and that would make him a six-division champion.”