-9.3 C
New York
Monday, December 23, 2024

Hear faces repeated rejections in Ennis unification efforts


Promoter Eddie Hearn says the two offers he made to WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. made to fight IBF champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis was “rejected” without any counteroffer being made to him.

Hearn says he has received no counter offer from Team Norman despite their claims that one was made. He wants that fight, and he’s hopeful that Norman (26-0, 20 KOs) will continue negotiations if he truly believes what he’s saying about Boots Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) not being the “boogeyman” that he says he is.

Ennis’ options are dwindling at welterweight

Hearn states that he made offers to WBC champion Mario Barrios and WBA champion Eimantis Stanionis, but they were all rejected. The only champion he hopes to fight is Norman Jr.

It’s not a good sign that Hearn is already receiving resistance from the three 147-lb champions Boots Ennis has to fight for him to achieve his goal of becoming undisputed welterweight champion.

If all Boots could potentially get was a fight against Norman, that would still leave him short of his goal, and he would have to give up. That’s what he has to do, but he himself may doubt whether he can safely swim with the sharks at 154 without getting hit.

By now, Ennis has sparred with junior middleweights and knows how hard they hit, and it won’t be as easy as it was for him at 147. It would make sense for Ennis to stay at 147 if the three remaining champions were popular and willing to fight him. That’s not reality, and he’s wasting time staying in the division rather than milking his IBF belt.

“We made offers to Norman, the WBO champion, Barrios, the WBC champion, and Stanionis, the WBA champion. All were rejected. We have now made two top ranked offers for Brian Norman; both were rejected. We haven’t received any counter offers, but I want to take that fight,” Eddie Hearn told Matchroom Boxing. YouTube channel about his hopes of setting up a welterweight unification fight for IBF 147-lb champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.

If His Excellency Turki Alalshikh wants to make it financially worthwhile for the WBA, WBC and WBO champions to agree to fight Boots Ennis, all those fights can be made. These aren’t big fights, though, and Turki will probably focus instead on setting up a fight between Boots and Terence Crawford at 154.

Ennis fighting the three champions at 147 won’t sell on PPV, so it’s probably not something Turki will want to help with. The fights aren’t big enough.

Hearn’s Misunderstanding of Top Rank’s Plans

“The one I think has legs, and I’ve seen him and his dad come out in the last 24 hours, is Brian Norman, the WBO champion,” Hearn said of his hopes for a fight between Boots and WBO champion to make Norman. “We have now made two top-ranked offers for Brian Norman. Both were rejected in a pleasant way. We get along very well with Top Rank. “

Hearn doesn’t understand that top-ranked promoter Bob Arum is interested in combining Teofimo Lopez against Norman at 147. So they won’t be keen on letting Ennis get his hands on the WBO belt against Norman.

“He (Norman Jr) said he posted yesterday that we made a counter offer,” Hearn said. “We have not received any counter offer. Brian, if you want to make a counter offer, hurry up and do it. I want to start that fight.”

It sounds like Team Norman is blowing smoke and has no real interest in fighting Boots Ennis, especially with the more winnable fight against Teofimo still around. They would be better off fighting Teofimo first before fighting the tougher match against Boots Ennis.

“If Brian Norman has the (courage) and if Brian Norman is sincere,” Hearn said. “Brian, if you’re serious, let’s go. Let’s speed it up. Let’s get this fight done, because these are the kind of fights we have to fight.”

Norman probably isn’t afraid to fight Boots. Again, the Teofimo fight is still there for him, and it’s better to take that one first.

“Brian Norman says, ‘Boots is not the boogeyman. He’s overhyped.’ Come on, Brian. If you believe that, let’s get this fight made,” Hearn said.



Source link

Related Articles

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -

Latest Articles

- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -