Ennis dropped Xander Zayas three times on Saturday night en route to a seventh-round stoppage to become WBA and WBO junior middleweight champion at Barclays Center.

In response, Crawford tweeted: "Ima keep my comments to myself, but ya'll get it I hope."

Crawford was asked about his tweet on the PorterWay Podcast, and he explained what he meant.

“[Ennis] is a tremendous talent and he’s no walk in the park for anyone,” Crawford said. “He’s a threat to anyone that he steps foot in the ring with. He's got tremendous speed, he's got great power, defense, reflexes, all of that, but I’m 10 steps ahead of him in smarts. That’s where he’ll get in trouble coming straight forward, trying to box me, or trying to go shot for shot. I can see the holes in his game and I can see the openings and opportunities that I would have.

“I feel like I punch harder than Xander, I’m way sharper than Xander, I’m way faster than Xander. So the shots that Xander was hitting him with and the shots that Xander couldn’t capitalize because his speed wasn’t there, I would be able to capitalize. And everybody knows I’m one of the best counterpunchers there ever was.”

Future Hall of Famer Crawford retired after beating Canelo Alvarez last September to become a three-division undisputed champion. Despite his comments on Ennis, he plans to remain on the sidelines.

“Everybody knows the competitive nature of myself,” Crawford said on the PorterWay Podcast. “But I don’t worry about coming back to prove anything.”

“I’m happily retired. It’s Boots' era. I pray and hope he takes it to the extreme.”