WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. explains why he wasn’t willing to agree to the $1.7 million offer for a unification fight against IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, saying that his “price is different now” that he’s a world champion.
Fans React: Was $1.7 Million Not Enough?
Many boxing fans on social media believe that Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KOs) should have agreed to the $1.7 million for the Boots (32-0, 29 KOs) fight, considering that it’s more money than he’s ever made and will be far above what he’s going to be paid for his next title defense on Keyshawn Davis’ undercard on November 8th.
Brian Norman Sr. wanted the offer by promoter Eddie Hearn to be increased by only $500,000, given that his son would be fighting in Boots Ennis’ hometown in Philadelphia and that he would be losing a significant portion of his purse to taxes and Top Rank taking 25%. Unfortunately, Hearn wasn’t willing to budge to increase the $1.7 million offer to $2.2 million.
“I will fight anyone. I’m already a world champion. I have already risked a lot and won when I wasn’t expected to win. My price is different now. Being a world champion, the business must make sense,” said Brian Norman Jr. to Boxing Kingdom on X following the collapse of his negotiations with IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
Brian Norman Jr.’s Star Potential
Both fighters are losing out in this case. It’s not just Norman Jr., as casual boxing fans believe. Boots Ennis’ dream of becoming undisputed champion at welterweight is now over because it’s pretty clear that his promoter, Hearn, is a stick in the mud and isn’t going to meet Norman Jr’s price or likely any of the other champions at 147.
The 23-year-old Norman Jr. has the talent to become a big star in the welterweight division if he keeps winning and performing like he did in his last fight against Giovani Santillan on May 18th.
What’s unclear is whether that fight was an aberration for Norman Jr or what he’s capable of every time out. If Norman Jr. can fight like that in all his contests, he’ll be a bigger star than Boots Ennis because he’s more exciting, and he has far more personality and charisma.
Brian Jr’s dad, Norman Sr., is the equivalent of Bill Haney in that he is able to attract interest in his son’s fights. Boots Ennis doesn’t have that, and he’s not interesting to listen to during interviews.
Eddie Hearn’s Waning Interest in Ennis?
Hearn has shown scant interest in hyping Boots the way he does Anthony Joshua and Shakur Stevenson. He never shuts up about those two, but with Boots, he’s not showing the same energy.
Some fans feel that Hearn has lost interest in Boots Ennis following his fight against David Avanesyan on July 13th because the fight didn’t generate a lot of excitement among fans.
Moreover, Boots, 27, didn’t perform well, taking a lot of punches from the 35-year-old Avanesyan and looking nothing like the potential superstar that Hearn has been banging on about. It seems obvious that Hearn has buyer’s remorse about signing Boots Ennis. Hearn is showing classic signs of a person that just bought a new toy, and lost interest in it.
It’s predictable that when Boots Ennis’ contract is up with Hearn, he wont be re-signed and he’ll drift off the way Demetrius Andrade did when he was with Matchroom.
Hearn had the same excitement about the American Andrade when he signed him, but failed to take advantage of his ability by choosing to match him repeatedly againt British domestic-level fighters instead of the world class guys. We’re already seeing the same pattern of matchmaking duplicated with Boots, fighting Avanesyan and likely someone from the UK after that.
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