Promoter Eddie Hearn says the two offers he made to WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. to fight IBF champ Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis were “rejected’ without any counteroffers made to him.
Hearn says he received no counteroffers from Team Norman despite their claims that one had been made. He wants to make that fight, and he’s hopeful that Norman (26-0, 20 KOs) will continue with the negotiations if he truly believes what he says about Boots Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) not being the “boogeyman” that he says he is.
Ennis’ Options Dwindling at Welterweight
Hearn states that he made offers to WBC champion Mario Barrios and WBA champ Eimantis Stanionis, but they were all rejected. The only champion with whom he hopes to fight is Norman Jr.
It’s not a good sign that Hearn is already receiving resistance from the three 147-lb champions that Boots Ennis must fight for him to achieve his goal of becoming undisputed champion at welterweight.
If all Boots can potentially get is a fight against Norman, that would still leave him short of his goal, and he would need to give up on it. That’s what he should do, but he might have self-doubt whether he can safely swim with the sharks at 154 without getting beaten up.
By now, Ennis has sparred with junior middleweights and knows how hard they punch, and it won’t be as easy as it’s been for him at 147. It would make sense for Ennis to stay at 147 if the three remaining champions were popular and willing to fight him. That’s not the reality, and he’s wasting time staying in the division rather than milking his IBF belt.
“We’ve made offers to Norman, the WBO champion, Barrios, the WBC champion, and Stanionis, the WBA champion. All have been rejected. We’ve made Top Rank two offers now for Brian Norman; both have been rejected. We’ve not received any counteroffer, but I want to make that fight,” said Eddie Hearn to the Matchroom Boxing YouTube channel about his hopes of setting up a unification fight at welterweight for IBF 147-lb champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
If His Excellency Turki Alalshikh wants to make it financially worthwhile for the WBA, WBC, and WBO champions to agree to fight Boots Ennis, all those fights can be made. However, those aren’t big fights, and Turki would likely rather focus on setting up a fight between Boots and Terence Crawford at 154.
Ennis fighting the three champions at 147 won’t sell on PPV, so it’s not likely something that Turki would want to help out with. The fights aren’t big enough.
Hearn’s Misunderstanding of Top Rank’s Plans
“The one that I think has legs, and I saw him and his father come out in the last 24 hours, is Brian Norman, the WBO champion,” said Hearn about his hopes of making a fight between Boots and WBO champion Norman. “We’ve made Top Rank two offers now for Brian Norman. Both have been rejected in a pleasant fashion. We get on very well with Top Rank. ”
Hearn fails to grasp that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is interested in matching Teofimo Lopez against Norman at 147. So they won’t be eager to let Ennis get his hands on the WBO belt against Norman.
“He [Norman Jr] said he posted yesterday that we made a counteroffer,” said Hearn. “We’ve not received any counteroffer. Brian, if you’d like to make a counteroffer, hurry up and do so. I want to make that fight.”
It sounds like Team Norman is blowing smoke and doesn’t have any true interest in fighting Boots Ennis, especially with the more winnable fight against Teofimo still out there. They’d be better off fighting Teofimo first before they fight the more difficult match against Boots Ennis.
“If Brian Norman has the [courage] and if Brian Norman is genuine,” said Hearn. “Brian, if you’re genuine, let’s go. Let’s speed it up. Let’s get this fight made because these are the kind of fights that we should be making.”
Norman probably isn’t afraid to fight Boots. Again, the Teofimo fight is still out there for him, and it’s better to take that one first.
“Brian Norman says, ‘Boots is not the boogeyman. He’s overhyped.’ Come on, Brian. If you believe that, let’s get this fight made,” said Hearn.
