Brian Norman Jr’s father Brian Sr. says Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis will never be undisputed welterweight champion because he has a promoter Eddie Hearn “who doesn’t want to play ball” by negotiating fair.
Norman Sr. reveals purse disparity: Hearn’s “royal” attitude
Norman Sr. revealed that IBF 147-lb champion Boots Ennis will be paid $5 million for his November 9th battle. He says Hearn acts like a king, thinks he’s dealing with mere peasants, and offers $1.75 million for WBO welterweight champion Norman Jr. to fight in “enemy territory” in Philadelphia on November 9th.
Norman Sr. says he’s still “optimistic” the fight with Boots (32-0, 29 KOs) will happen, but they’ll need to raise Hearn’s $1.7 million offer by $500,000 to $2.2 million because he wants has his son, Brian Jr. to take home $1.2 million after tax deductions and Top Rank’s 25%.
Brian Sr. say they will only agree to the $1.7 million offer if the fight with Boots Ennis is held on “neutral territory” in Las Vegas. However, Hearn is unlikely to agree to that as he wants to host the November 9th fight at the 21,000-seat Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, where a Bots-Norman Jr. clash is likely to sell out due to the interest the bout will generate would have .
Staging the fight in Philadelphia would bring in a lot of revenue, which would help cover the wallets of the two fighters.
“He (Hearn) didn’t want to get it done. If Boots made $3.3 million (for David Avanesyan fight), he’s going to make at least $5 (million) for this one. So, it’s a unification match, so he’s going to make at least five (million) for this,” Brian Norman Sr. said. told the Thaboxingvoice YouTube channel about the $5M purse that Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis will receive compared to the $1.7M that Brian Norman Jr. will receive. was offered to fight in enemy territory on November 9 in Philadelphia.
With Boots Ennis getting $5 million, it’s no wonder Hearn is digging in and doesn’t want to budge from the $1.75 million offered to Norman Jr. However, if Hearn wants to increase Boots Ennis’ popularity by helping him become the undisputed champion at 147, he needs to get the money. That’s only $500K extra, which shouldn’t break the bank.
Boots Ennis can help by choosing to donate $500,000 from his purse to Norman Jr. to give to win this game. After all, this is Ennis’ career, and he is the one who will benefit in the long run if he becomes undisputed champion.
If he’s going to get Hearn to quit with negotiations in excess of $500,000, Boots’ goal of going undisputed will be achieved, and he’ll have to move up to 154 to find other fights. Of course, if it happens now with Hearn refusing to pay an extra half a million to get the fights for Boots, it’s likely to happen at 154 as well.
Boots Ennis should investigate and predict his future under the British promoter. If Hearn gives up one negotiation over that bit of money, he’s likely to do it again, no matter where Boots goes.
“Boots wants to be undisputed. I’m telling you Boots and Bozy (Ennis), you’re not going to get a chance for anything because he (Eddie Hearn) isn’t trying to pay,” says Norman Sr. “So you should do what Errol Spence did, say: ‘Give the man what he wants, even if you have to take it from me. Hand over that $500,000 to the other side, and let’s get that fight.’”
It is unlikely that Boots Ennis will do what Spence did by sacrificing some of his wallet to take this fight with Norman Jr. Ennis hasn’t made massive Canelo-like money yet, so he probably won’t be willing to give up some of his purse to take the fight with Norman Jr. win.
Value Perception
“$500,000 off, that’s it, it wasn’t far,” says Norman Sr. about how much extra money they want Hearn to sweeten the $1.7 million offer he made to bring it to $2.2 million. I never said we were miles away. Stop your bull, Eddie. You never started with ‘North of $1 Million;’ You started at $750,000 (for the first offer to Norman Jr.)”
It sounds to some that Hearn doesn’t see much value in the Ennis-Norman Jr. fight because Norman Jr. is not known to casual boxing fans. Norman Jr. is not a household name, but he has the WBO title, and Ennis needs to work on becoming the undisputed champion.
Plus, the fight will attract more interest than a Boots vs. Karen Chukhadzhian rematch. Fans don’t want to see that fight, but Hearn said it’s the fight he believes Boots should take on November 9.
If it was Anthony Joshua who wanted to be undisputed champion, it’s hard to believe that Hearn would give up making the fight more than $500,000, as he is doing with Boots Ennis. That tells you something.
Perhaps Hearn isn’t so high on Ennis after signing him recently because he’d be blowing a different tune if it was Joshua lighting a fire under his back and telling him to negotiate a unification fight. There’s no way on earth Hearn would refuse to get the job done if his opponent wanted him to sweeten the deal by a mere $500,000.
“We said $2 million because I wanted my son to come home with $1.2 million,” says Norman Sr. “Well, North,” and it sounds like if you keep adding a quarter of a million dollars, we should be at $2 million or somewhere close.
“We were not there. The actual number where we are today (from the fight being made) is $500,000 (to get it up to $2.2 million). That’s it, and that’s just so my son can bring home $1 million (after tax deductions and Top Rank’s 25%). The last interview (Hearn did), they said, ‘We’re miles away.’ Eddie plays games. He said, ‘We are near,’ and now they say, ‘We are miles away.’ I never said we were miles away.”
It’s really telling that Hearn is ready to end the negotiations with Norman Jr. to terminate over a difference of $500,000. Boots Ennis will have to decide where to go from here. Does he agree to Hearn’s idea to fight Karen in a rematch that will likely draw poor ratings and make him look bad, or does he give up on the 147-lb division and move to 154?
Either way, it looks like Boots will experience nothing but bad things in the future. Deals won’t be done over small sums of money, and Boots will be stuck fighting low-level opposition, failing to gain traction and ending up like former Matchroom fighter Demetrius Andrade.
“We want this fight. I want my son to be well compensated to go into enemy territory (Boots’ hometown of Philadelphia),” Norman Sr. said. said. “He is a young fighter; he has his own career, and he can build his own name. Boots was not a world champion at 23.”
Norman Jr. ‘s future: a star in the making?
Norman Jr. doesn’t need Boots Ennis for him to get nice paydays and become a star. Even if he takes little money for his fights in the next year or two, he’ll make more money, and by the time he’s Boots’ age, he’ll be a bigger star. Norman Jr. has a more exciting style than Boots and is much more entertaining to watch. With the ESPN platform and Top Rank’s help, Norman Jr. quickly becoming a PPV attraction as long as he keeps winning.
“If Eddie Hearn is serious about the fight, we’ll take the last offer he made ($1.7 million) if he makes it in Vegas,” Norman Sr. said. “You can’t bring people into enemy territory and then pay them nothing. And then pay your fighter $5 million. We’re not slaves.”
Hearn is not going to agree to a fight between Boots and Norman Jr. in Las Vegas on neutral ground because there is too much money to be made in his hometown of Philadelphia and the Wells Fargo Center is sold out. With Boots’ popularity in Philadelphia, he can sell out that arena, even against Karen; That’s the likely reason why Hearn isn’t reluctant to make that fight.
Norman Sr. claim neutral ground
“We understand who’s the king and queen (good) on their side, but we’re not their peasants,” says Norman Sr. “I don’t know what this (stuff) is about. $500,000 more (needed to complete deal), we’re still optimistic about this fight on November 9. The last offer was $1.7 (million). Actually, Top Rank takes 25 (percent) off the top. I want my son to at least be well compensated to go over to enemy territory (Philadelphia).”
Hearn seems ambivalent about calling the Boots vs. Norman Jr. too late to fight and doesn’t seem to attach much importance to helping Ennis achieve his goal. It could be that Hearn secretly wants Boots Ennis to move up to 154 rather than invest time in low-level fights against the obscure champions at 147.
If that’s the real problem, it would explain why Hearn isn’t eager to part with the $500,000 that Norman Sr. do not want to agree to the transaction. Ideally, Hearn should be upfront with Boots by telling him he wants him to move up to 154 because 147 is a dead end and will slow down his career growth.
“Breaking news from here. Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis will never be undisputed at 147 because he has a promoter who won’t play ball. If he wants to play the ball, he must place it in neutral territory. Then we can talk some real numbers. Otherwise you have to pay for us to get out there because I think 1 point whatever million is a low end on equal ground because of the fight that it is. We are ready,” Norman Sr. said.