Promoter Eddie Hearn says he wants Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to defend his IBF welterweight title on November 9 in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, Hearn was unable to secure unification deals with 147-lb champion Brian Norman Jr. and Eimantas Stanionis to negotiate.
Hearn’s inflexible attitude towards negotiations with the champions makes it unlikely that Ennis will be given the opportunity to unify. The Matchroom boss seems to have a hard line in negotiation and is the problem.
Hearn says he doesn’t want Boots to vacate his IBF title, but since he could negotiate a deal with any of the three 147-lb champions, options are limited. If Boots vacates, he could move up to 154, potentially getting fights against Serhii Bohachuk or Israil Madrimov.
Hearn’s unwillingness to pay
If Hearn has his way, Boots will defend against his IBF mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9. That fight won’t do much for Boots Ennis’ popularity or help him move closer to achieving his goal of becoming undisputed at welterweight.
WBO champion Norman (26-0, 20 KOs) wants $2.2 million, but Hearn doesn’t seem willing to increase his $1.75 million offer.
Assuming Hearn continues to take an intransigent stance to come up with the money the welterweight champions will agree to, he might as well convince Boots Ennis to vacate his IBF title and move up to 154.
It’s not like WBO champion Norman, WBA champion Eimantas Stanionis, or WBC champion Mario Barrios will lower their asking price after Boots defends against Karen on November 9. Those champions will want the same money, if not more than they are asking for now.
So, Hearn might be kidding himself if he thinks kicking the negotiating woes with the 147-lb champions down the road will improve the situation. Letting them stew probably won’t work. It’s unlikely any of those champions will get desperate and be willing to accept any lowball offer Hearn throws at them.
“Jaron Ennis against (Serhii) Bohachuk, maybe. I had a call with Jaron tonight. We’re just talking about what we’re going to do. We probably got 48 hours to make our decision,” Eddie Hearn told iFL TV YouTube channel.
Negotiating a fight with former WBC interim 154-lb champion Serhii Bohachuk won’t be easy for Hearn, and he may have similar problems closing a deal with him for a fight against Boots.
“For me, I really don’t want to see him (Ennis) give up the (IBF welterweight) world title because I want to see him take on Brian Norman,” Hearn said. “I want to see him beat Stanionis, and I want to see him in a war with Mario Barrios, which is the toughest of the three fights,” Hearn continued.
If Hearn doesn’t want Boots to relinquish his IBF title, he will have to pay the champions their asking price because these are world champions, not contenders.
Does Hearn favor Joshua over Ennis?
It doesn’t matter what these fighters did before they were elevated to championship status by e-mail. They now hold titles, and Boots Ennis needs those belts to increase his stock. Remembering back when Hearn negotiated a deal with Anthony Joshua to win his first title against IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin in 2016, he paid top dollar to make that fight happen for his prized AJ.
Martin received an $8.5 million purse to defend against Joshua in London. Before that, Martin had never received that kind of money, but things changed due to his holding of the IBF title. Joshua needed that belt to validate him, so Martin was paid big money.
Now the WBO champion Brian Norman is in the same boat. Boots Ennis needs Norman Jr’s WBO belt to increase his value and turn him into a star, but in this case Hearn is trapped and unwilling to pay. What does that tell you?
This suggests that Hearn was more willing to help Anthony Joshua than he is with Boots Ennis, and you have to wonder why.
Is it because Boots is American? Hearn has to come to terms with that and understand that he has to be willing to pay the champions’ asking price if he wants Boots to become a star. He’s not one now, and he hasn’t looked good in his last two fights against David Avanesyan and Roiman Villa.
“I think the reality is that Brian Norman is going to go away and make about 200,000 to fight on Keyshawn Davis’ undercard (on Nov. 8 in Norfolk, Va.),” Hearn said. “That’s how insulting it is, with all due respect to Keyshawn Davis, who I love.”
Whether Norman will make less for his next fight in November doesn’t matter. What is essential is that Hearn has failed to deliver a fight for Boots Ennis against one of the three champions he needs to fight to go undisputed.
Now Hearn is kicking around the idea of wanting Boots to vacate his IBF title and move up to 154 because he can’t negotiate due to the offers he makes to the champions. Again, if it was Anthony Joshua, who Hearn was negotiating for, would he get the money to get the fights he wants? He would. If you are Boots, you should take note of this.
“Imagine just turning down $1.75 million for a unification fight in front of 22,000 people at Wells Fargo (center in Philadelphia) to get $200 grand to be on Keyshawn Davis’ undercard in Virginia in front of 3,000 people fight,” Hearn said.
Imagine Hearn not being willing to up the offer to $2.2 million to help Boots Ennis make the fight with Norman Jr. Now, why is that? Hearn is giving up on the negotiations over the $500K extra that Team Norman wants out of the $1.7 million offer. Would Hearn do the same thing to one of Joshua’s opponents, nickel and dime it?
“So once Team Norman has poured their soup, they’ll sit there and say, ‘Ah.’ What are they going to do? Where else can they make that kind of money ($1.7 million) to fight anyone? It has to be Boots,” Hearn said.
What’s interesting about that is Shakur Stevenson’s opponent for his October 12th fight, Joe Cordina, is reportedly being paid more than $2 million, even though he was knocked out in his last fight in May. If the rumor is true, it puts things into perspective.
“Stanionis, what are you going to do? For Stanionis, (Shakhram) Giyasov is the mandatory. Okay, have the Giyasov fight. What will he do for it? Mario Barrios is a bit of a bigger name, but still the money fight for all those guys is Boots,” Hearn said.
It doesn’t matter if Boots is the money fight for those champions. What’s important is that Hearn negotiates the fight and doesn’t focus on those champions making less without him. What Hearn doesn’t understand is that Stanionis, Norman and Barrios will make more money as champions in the long run than they would if they were offered $1+ million for a Boots fight.
“So, I don’t want to give up on making those (unification) fights (for Boots), but those people need to face reality,” Hearn said. “Brian Norman and (his manager) Adrian (Clark) and (just accepted the offer that was given to them). But it’s really hard to deal with people who have no idea. It’s so frustrating.”
Hearn seems too used to easy negotiations and unable to handle the give and take of dealing with champions who want to be paid well for a tough fight. Barrios, Stanionis, and Norman Jr. will all be backs against Ennis.
It makes sense that they want to be paid well. Hearn would take the same approach if he were negotiating from a position of weakness for one of his popular fighters, such as Joshua. If he knew that AJ would be the underdog, he would try to get him the most money possible, knowing that his popularity would drop after he lost.
“Not 100%, but if you ask me for a decision now, that’s what I think he should do. We’re open to a discussion within the team, and Boots is the boss,” Hearn said when asked if Boots should defend his IBF welterweight title next in Philadelphia. This would mean that Ennis would defend against his IBF mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian in a rematch on November 9 in Philadelphia.
