Eddie Hearn wants WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez to next fight new IBF champion Richardson Hitchins in a unification bout in Brooklyn, New York. Hearn sees a fight between trash talking Teofimo (21-1, 13 KOs) and Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs) that will appeal to fans.
Interestingly, last Saturday Teofimo called out Hearn’s fighter, IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, saying he wanted to move up to 147 to face him next. However, rather than Hearn choosing to go in that direction, he is insisting that the Teofimo-Hitchins unification fight take place next.
Boots was NOT even mentioned by Hearn. What does this tell you about Ennis’ standing with him? This is not good. I’m with Hearn on this. Hitchins is a diamond in the rough and the one in which he must pour his time, money and energy.
Hearn’s new favorite
This may indicate that Boots are on the outside with Hearn having failed to shine in his last four fights against Karen Chukhadzhian x 2, David Avanesyan and Roiman Villa. Those four straight poor performances and Ennis’ complete lack of charisma (33-0, 29 KOs) suggest that he is not star material or one that Hearn should pour his money into in order to track down big fights.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Hearn leaves Boots at the end of his multi-fight contract with Matchroom. Ennis has had two fights and has looked awful and nowhere near star quality.
“Teofimo vs. Richardson is a massive fight for Brooklyn, but it’s also a fight for Riyadh,” Eddie Hearn told the media last Saturday night after Richardson Hitchins’ victory over Liam Paro. “Him against Teofimo is a massive fight for Brooklyn, but if he doesn’t go there, he can go to Riyadh. (Jose ‘Rayo’) Valenzuela boxed at a Riyadh show.”
The making of a star
See what I mean? Hearn wants Teo for Hitchins, and I can’t blame him. Eddie understands that Richardson is a talent that he can quickly turn into a global superstar. He has more potential to achieve that than Shakur Stevenson, who is less entertaining than Hitchins in and out of the ring. Hearn inked New Jersey native Shakur thinking he could make a star out of him, and he’s in the same boat as Boots. He doesn’t act.
Richardson, 27, has more star potential than Boots and is worth Hearn putting on fights he can sell to the public. As we saw in the build-up to Hitchins’ title challenge against IBF 140lb champion Liam Paro last Saturday, he is capable of generating interest in his fights with his theatrical WWE showtrash talking, and of course over the top personality.
Boots Ennis is the brand and doesn’t have the spark for Hearn to subsidize matches that won’t garner interest from the public due to Jaron’s lack of charisma and another poor performance in the ring.
