Promoter Eddie Hearn says he wants Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to stay at 147 and keep his IBF title by facing his IBF welterweight mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian next. He will see what happens with that fight after he surprisingly lost the purse bid to Karen’s promoters this week.
If Chukhadzhian’s promoters can’t raise the money to stage the Boots Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) in Europe or elsewhere, it might return to the U.S., where Hearn will likely hold it in Philadelphia.
The Unwanted Rematch
This fight could have been avoided if Hearn had paid WBO 147-lb champion Brian Norman Jr. the $2.2 million his team asked for to make the unification match with Boots Ennis. Hearn chose not to increase his $1.7 million offer, leaving Boots with his mandatory Karen.
While Hearn and Ennis’ fans see it as some victory that Norman Jr. is fighting for considerably less money against Derreick Cuevas on November 8th, it’s not. Both champions are losing out.
Boots is stuck with a rematch against the defensive-minded Karen that no one wants to see, whereas Norman is defending against Cuevas. Hearn’s stubbornness has wrecked things for Boots, leaving him only two options: Fight Karen or move up to 154 and become food for the sharks.
“I talked to [Karen] Chukhadzhian’s manager the other night. We want to keep the [IBF welterweight] title,” said Eddie Hearn to Charlie Parson’s YouTube channel about a potential fight between Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and his mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian.
“Boots has minimums in his [contract] agreement, and to pay Karen what we needed to, the show can’t work. It’s not a fight that people are dying to see. He [Boots Ennis] beat him [Chukhadzhian] already [on January 7, 2023]. He [Karen] was very negative in the fight, but we do want to maintain our position as world champion,” said Hearn.
What Hearn isn’t saying is that he didn’t want to invest the money in Boots Ennis to win the purse bid. That’s what he’s not saying, but it’s there just the same. If Hearn wanted to win the purse bid for Boots’ fight against Karen, he could have easily come up with the money by investing in his fighter’s career but chose not to.
“We’re speaking to his [Karen] team. We’ll see where it’s going to take place, and yeah, we have an interesting decision to make,” said Hearn.
Staying at 147: The Safer Option
“I don’t know if I would do that if I were Boots. You’ve got to have a path to a major fight if you move up to 154,” said commentator Chris Mannix on his podcast on whether Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis should move up to 154 and take on Israil Madrimov in his first fight.
It would be a disaster for Boots Ennis if he moves up to 154 because they hit harder than him, and they have just as much talent. If Boots were to face former WBC junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov in his debut at 154, he’d likely get knocked out or beaten up and lose.
It would be great for Hearn because Madrimov will have bounced back from his recent loss to Terence Crawford, but the downside would be Ennis’ career imploding. Hearn would then be stuck with a devalued fighter that he would need to rebuild in fights that wouldn’t make money.
“In the aftermath of Boots-Norman falling apart. If you move up, you’re looking at a tough fight against Madrimov,” said Mannix. “You’re hoping to get a fight against Vergil Ortiz early next year. You’re still in the interim title range while Crawford figures his stuff out, and [WBC 154-lb champion Sebastian] Fundora is a PBC guy.”
It’s not a good idea for Boots Ennis to move up to 154 because he’s not good enough to beat those kinds of fighters. His whole thing in his career is that he’s been bigger than his marginal competition at 147, and all that goes away if he moves up to 154.
He’d face quality opposition that is just as big as him for the first time but with more power and talent. Ennis has gotten over being a weight bully at 147, and things won’t be the same if he moves up to junior middleweight, where he should have been fighting all along.
“To me, it just seems a lot more complicated if you move up to 154,” said Mannix. “If I was advising Boots, I would say stay at 147 and take the payday [against IBF mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian]. Let’s see if PTM has the money to put on this type of fight. This might end up on DAZN anyway if they need a broadcast partner.
Boots Ennis needs to stay at 147 his entire career if he wants to continue to have success because the division has been vacuumed of talent, leaving lesser fighters. Brian Norman Jr is the only one with ability, and Hearn doesn’t want to shell out to make a unification fight for Ennis. That could be good for Boots because he might lose to him, and Hearn would be stuck with him until his contract expires.
“If I’m Boots, as much as it pains me to get back in the ring against this guy [Karen], as furious as I am with the IBF putting me in that position, I’d probably go through with it. I’d do the fight, get a payday, and move on to next year,” said Mannix.
Hearn has already said that he wants Ennis to face Karen for him to keep his IBF title. Hearn obviously knows what life would be like for Ennis if he moves up to 154, and he prefers staying at 147.
As philosopher Thomas Hobbes said about the state of life, describing it as “Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” That explains how things would be for Boots Ennis if he moved up to junior middleweight, braving himself against the dangerous predators lurking everywhere. Hearn couldn’t protect Boots Ennis from them because he’s not designed physically to take on those kinds of fighters.
“Brian Norman is going to get $200,000 to fight Cuevas in a fight that is going to be on ESPN+ [on November 8th] that is not going to get a lot of visibility,” said Hearn.
Looking at it from Norman’s viewpoint. Even though he’s making far less money defending against the little-known Derrieck Cuevas on the Keyshawn Davis vs. Gustavo Lemos undercard on November 8th on ESPN+, he still comes out ahead because he won’t lose his title. If Norman Jr. took the fight against Ennis for $1.7 million, he might get beaten.
The real question is how much the WBO title is worth to Hearn and Boots Ennis. If they feel it’s not worth paying the $2.2 million, they’ll never get a chance to capture it. If Norman Jr. defeats Cuevas and looks good, his price tag will likely be higher should Hearn and Boots revisit the negotiations in 2025.
“Ryan Garcia is a potential option for Brian Norman. Ryan is back in the ring in April. Maybe they can make that fight happen, and that’s a big money fight for Norman as well,” said Mannix.
It’s unlikely that Ryan Garcia will choose to fight Norman when his suspension expires in April 2025. When he returns to action next year, Ryan wants to be involved in a big-money fight on PPV, and he’s not going to get that fighting Norman.
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