Eddie Hearn plans to close negotiations for a unification fight between IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and WBO champion Brian Norman Jr. to review for next February.
Hearn came up empty with his recent talks for an Ennis vs. Norman Jr. fight for Nov. 9, but he plans to try again later. Boots will defend against his IBF mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian (24-2 13 KOs) on November 9 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Hoor hopes Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) will knock out Chukhadzhian and looks impressive to build for a unification fight between Boots and the undefeated Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KOs) in February. He wants Ennis to stay at 147 until he unifies all the belts against Norman, WBC champion Mario Barrios, and WBA champion Eimantas Stanionis before moving up to 154.
Hearn will have to offer the three champions well enough money for them to agree to fight Ennis, as he will wait for ‘Boots’ time if he expects them to agree to low offers of less than $2 million.
Norman Jr., Barrios and Stanionis all showed no interest in agreeing to fight Ennis when Hearn tried to put those fights together. If Hearn can’t come up with the money to make those fights, he should advise Boots to move up to 154 because he’s wasting his time staying at 147 fighting the lesser names.
“In an ideal world, we’d rather have a unification fight than Chukhadzhian,” Eddie Hearn said. Fight Hub TV about Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. “It’s not like he has to move to 154 because he can’t make the weight anymore.”
Hearn could see the fight between Ennis and Norman Jr. made, but his idea of a big offer wasn’t what the WBO champion and his father, Norman Sr., felt big about. Maybe Hearn is old-fashioned, but his $1.7 million offer was well short of the $2.2 million Norman Sr. wanted for his son.
Hearn wasn’t willing to step it up with the $500K needed to make that fight happen. There is a difference between what the champions at 147 consider good money and what Hearn feels is optimal. Of course, British promoter Hearn will need to understand how the champions work for him to make those fights against Ennis.
“So, I feel like with the talks with Norman, with the fact that I don’t think Stanionis is going to find a big fight,” Hearn said of wanting a unification fight between Ennis and WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. and WBA champion and Eimantas Stanionis.
“Barrios fights on Netflix card. I really feel we can make those unifications. I don’t want to leave the ward until we make it if he doesn’t need to physically. So, my advice to Boots is to just get this fight (IBF mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian) out of the way.”
Hearn’s mention of Barrios fighting on Netflix and pretending to forget Norman Jr’s name doesn’t change the fact that they want more money than he’s willing to give them.
If he doesn’t want to pay them what they’re asking for, he should let Ennis know he can’t fight for him. Hearn can’t turn Boots into a star on the cheap by matching him against guys like Karen and David Avanesyan. He can stick with Ennis his entire career, and he’ll never become a star if those are the only type of fights available.
“Try to stop him this time, jump all over him, beat him up, and get him out of there and see one of the others, Brian Norman. See if he wants to make life-changing money in a unification fight. And if he does, we’ll make it for February,” Hearn said.
