Promoter Eddie Hearn was furious on Thursday, having failed to negotiate a unification deal for his recently signed fighter, IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis’ to face WBO champ Brian Norman Jr.
A “Fortune” Spurned
The approximately $1.5 million offer that Hearn floated to Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KOs) was rejected by his team. Hearn says the $1.5 Million he offered Norman was a “fortune,” and he thinks he’s foolish for having turned it down. Hearn can’t be serious by believing that small sum is a “fortune” for Norman. If he really believes that, he has respect for Norman Jr’s potential.
He believes that Norman, 23, will never see that kind of money for the remainder of his career. If Hearn hadn’t been so Scrooge McDuck-like, he would have given Norman Jr. the $2 million or whatever he was asking for because Ennis needs those belts to take his career to the next level. Hearn needs to consider it an investment instead of focusing on his short-term profit margin shrinking.
Boots Ennis will now defend against his IBF mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9th in Philadelphia. Hearn mentioned that Boots might vacate his IBF title to concentrate on fighting other guys, but then he changed his mind, saying he might go ahead with the fight against Karen.
The Cost of Missed Opportunities
Boots doesn’t want to fight at 154. So, he’s not going to give up his IBF title. Fighting Chukhadzhian again will hurt Ennis’ popularity, stunting it badly, and it could have been avoided. If Hearn hadn’t been so close-fisted in his negotiations with Norman, he’d have that fight for Ennis, and his popularity would have gone through the roof if he won.
The fight would be incredibly entertaining with Boots and Norman going to war, trading bombs in what would be a fun fight to watch. But Hearn failing to deliver Norman, fans will watch Boots chase Karen around the ring for 12 rounds on November 9th and look inept once again.
He will stay at 147, likely for as long as it takes to collect the belts. That means, Hearn is going to have to pay the champions, Norman Jr., Barrios and Stanionas what they’re asking. Looking at it from a tactical point of view. Hearn should make those fights as fast as possible because if he waits, those champions will become more popular, and they’ll demand will be considerably more than the pitiful $1.5 million that he was offering Norman.
“We made an offer to Stanionis well north of a million dollars. Where is Stanionis going to see money like that? Who is Stanionis? It’s laid on the plate for them,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to the Matchroom Boxing YouTube channel, complaining about the champions, Brian Norman Jr. and Eimantas Stanionis, asking for more than he was willing to pay them for a unification fight against IBF champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
Hearn’s repeated failures to negotiate deals with the other champions at 147 show that he won’t be able to help him. Devaluing them by predicting they’ll never make similar money doesn’t help mask his failure to deliver the fights Boots needs and wants.
“The problem with boxing. Brian Norman, Stanionis, and Marios Barrios, they know they can’t beat Boots. No one wants to be really great. Brian Norman, who no one has ever heard of, has a chance to beat Jaron Ennis and become a superstar in the sport and make a fortune [$1.5 million] on the way. But he talks about it, but he’s not about it.
Hearn’s Negotiation Struggles
Hearn seems to be doing a poor job of negotiating the fights with the three champions that Boots (32-0, 29 KOs) needs to fight to become the undisputed champion. He already struck out with his attempts to negotiate a deal with WBA champion Eimantas Stanionis and got nowhere with WBC champ Mario Barrios.
Moving forward, someone a little more even-tempered needs to be in control of the negotiations for Boots Ennis because Hearn is too emotional and can’t see what’s truly important. He’s so concerned about his short-term profits that he fails to see the investment for the long term.
Ennis must give up on his useless pipe dream of becoming the undisputed champion because his promoter, Hearn, doesn’t want to open his piggy bank to pay the champions’ asking price.
“Stanionis, don’t get me started on him. That guy pipes up on Twitter. When I made the offer to Stanionis, I never threw up my caviar. Now, he doesn’t want to know either. Barrios is fighting someone else, whatever. Barrios is a good fighter. These guys, they’re not really about it.
“They talk about it, but no one wants to roll the dice and try to be great. People come back on Twitter, ‘Oh, Eddie. I bet your offer was like $300,000.’ I wish it was. It was well over five times of that [$1.5 million], yet he still doesn’t want to fight. What’s Brian Norman’s biggest purse? $200,000?” said Hearn.
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