WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr’s father, Brian Sr, believes that Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis’ promoter Eddie Hearn is trying to get him to vacate his IBF 147-lb title so that his flawed Matchroom fighter, Conor Benn, can capture the belt and use it to set up big money fights.
A Series of Suspicious Events
Norman Sr. thinks that Hearn’s reasons for not putting together the unification fight that Boots Ennis wanted against his son, Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KOs), and then losing the IBF purse bid for his mandatory challenger Karen Chukhadzhian are part of a plot to get Ennis to vacate his IBF title and move up to 154.
This would free up the belt Conor Benn to claim it and then take advantage of his position as a champion to set up lucrative fights against many different fighters who would never in a million years agree to fight the dangerous Boots.
The Lure of Lucrative Fights
Conor, 27, would be free to defend the IBF title in the U.S against big names like Ryan Garcia and Devin Haneyt and make big bank. Those two would never agree to fight Ennis because they’d be overmatched, and he can’t sell on PPV.
Benn (23-0, 14 KOs) is ranked #3 in the IBF’s rankings and would have no chance of winning that belt if he had to go through Boots Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) to win it. But if Boots vacates the IBF title, Conor Benn would only have to defeat #1 Karen Chukhadzhian to win it, which still wouldn’t be an easy task, but there would be a chance.
“Eddie Hearn used Boots to get Conor Benn in position to get that [IBF welterweight] title. He’s going to convince Boots to go to 154, and Conor Benn is going to be the champion at 147. Watch what I tell you,” said Brian Norman Sr. on Instagram, coming up with his theory on why promoter Eddie Hearn lost the purse bid for Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis’ IBF mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian and bailed on negotiations with WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. over not wanting to pay an extra $500,000 to get the fight made.
It’s a strange theory that Brian Norman Sr. has, but if he’s correct, we’ll soon see Ennis vacate his IBF title and move up to 154, allowing Conor Benn to dumpster dive for the 147-lb belt along with Karen. Whoever emerges with the IBF belt can make good money, the kind that Ennis would never get due to him being high risk and low reward due to his lack of popularity.
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