Promoter Eddie Hearn is upset that WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr’s team has rejected the offer that he’s made of over $1+ million for a unification against Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. Hearn doesn’t say what Boots Ennis would receive for the Norman Jr. fight. Obviously, Team Norman Jr. has a pretty good idea.
Ennis to Face Mandatory Challenger Chukhadzhian
Boots (32-0, 29 KOs) will now defend against his mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian (24-2, 13 KOs) in a rematch on November 9th in Philadelphia.
Briefly, Hearn floated the idea of Boots vacating his IBF title to swerve the mandatory against Karen but then changed his tune, saying they would likely take the fight.
If Boots keeps his IBF title, it means he’s not giving up on his goal of becoming undisputed, and Hearn will be forced to swallow his pride and resume negotiating with Norman Jr. in the future.
It would have to wait until 2025 after Boots defends against Chukhadzhian in a fight that could do poorly if sold on PPV.
Norman Jr.’s Potential Star Power
Hearn argues that Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KOs) should have accepted the offer because he’ll never make money like that. He assumes Norman Jr. won’t become a star and make money. Hearn could be proven wrong.
Norman isn’t going to get beaten anytime soon, and he will be someone that casual fans quickly learn about because he’s got an exciting style that is arguably more entertaining to watch than Boots. There’s no comparison.
If you watch Norman’s last fight against Giovani Santillan on May 18th and compare it to Boots Ennis’ last two fights against David Avanesyan and Roiman Villan, Norman comes out on top. He’s more interesting to watch than Boots, which means he will become a star and deserve more money.
Hearn may regret not getting Norman while the price was more manageable now than what it’ll be later after he continues to make a name for himself.
“The first offer to Brian Norman was nicely over a million dollars,” said Edie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing about his failed effort to negotiate a fight for IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. “They said that was nowhere near.
Disparity in Payouts Raises Questions
“We’ve made two more offers. A quarter of a million dollars every time now to levels Brian Norman will never see. Do you want this fight, or are you clout-chasing? Do you want to be great, Brian Norman? Who is Brian Norman? I know he’s a good fighter, but no one else knows who Brian Norman is.”
Shakur Stevenson is supposedly getting $5 million for his next fight against Joe Cordina, and he’s nowhere near as entertaining to watch as Brian Norman Jr. If anyone should be getting $1 million, it’s Shakur, not Norman.
When they hear the money that Shakur is getting, it’s understandable why they wouldn’t agree to $1 million. Shakur hasn’t beaten anyone notable during his career, and his fights are awful to watch. He’s getting top dollar and fighting scrubs.
“We’re giving you a bucketful of money and an opportunity for you to unify the division against, in my opinion, one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world,” said Hearn about the $1 million+ he’s offering world champion Brian Norman Jr. for a unification fight. “Why wouldn’t you take this bucketful of money to prove you’re the best welterweight in the world?”
$1 million+ isn’t a “bucketful of money” if you’re a world champion and you’re going to help sell out a 20,000-seat stadium in Philadelphia. That’s a chump change for what you’re going to be contributing to the Boots fight.
“With all due respect for Brian Norman, he shouldn’t be making this kind of money, but we’re ready to pay it. If you wanted the fight, you would have taken the fight. Now we’re in a situation where the IBF has ordered [Karen] Chukhadzhian. Listen, the kid is a great fighter, but Boots has already beaten him,” said Hearn.
I can’t entirely agree with Hearn. Norman should be making the money he offered him because he’s the WBO champion, and he has a style that could turn him into a star faster than Boots.
With Hearn unable to make unification fights for Boots and him unwilling to move up to 154, his options are pretty limited at 147. He didn’t look impressive against David Avanesyan last July, and Karen made him look bad last year.
“So, we may vacate the belt. We may do something different because Boots has got to prove to the world how great he is. We may fight Chukhadzhian and just get it out of the way. But Brian has missed the boat, and now he has to fight someone for peanuts against someone no one has ever heard of. Boots is alright. Boots has earned a fortune, but Brian had the chance to prove himself as a superstar, and they dropped the ball,” said Hearn.
Fighting Karen again could backfire on Boots because he won’t look good against him, and his popularity could drop from that fight. Last year, Karen made Boots look unskilled and clueless in their fight in Washington, D.C.
