Brian Norman Jr’s father, Brian Sr., says he’s heard nothing back from Matchroom since the first offer was sent to them for a fight against IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
Brian Norman Sr. Claims Radio Silence from Matchroom
Norman Sr. says he saw the message from promoter Eddie Hearn asking them to respond to them if they want the fight with Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs), but he’s not heard anything back from them since reaching out again. He says he was surprised that the Matchroom lawyers weren’t unaware he’d sent a counteroffer because Hearn had said they had declined 2 offers. Norman Sr says that didn’t happen.
Some people believe Hearn doesn’t want Boots to fight the dangerous WBO welterweight champion Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KOs) because he’s made up his mind that he wants to set up a rematch with light-hitting IBF mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian next, which is a much easier fight with minimal risk.
That match would do nothing to increase Boots Ennis’ star power in the U.S. and wouldn’t help him reach his goal of becoming undisputed. It’s a safe one, though. Boots is 27 now, and he can’t afford to waste time taking years off his career trying to unify the welterweight division if he’s dealing with headaches during the negotiation process.
Confusion and Misinformation
“I want to give you the latest situation on the Boots fight on our end. I’m trying to be as transparent as possible with Boots & Bozy and his team. I reached out to him after Eddie Hearn did his interview yesterday,” said Brian Norman Sr. to the Fighthype YouTube channel, talking about his efforts to make the fight between his son, Norman Jr., and IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
“We reached out immediately to Matchroom’s lawyers, the ones that sent the offer, and asked, ‘What is this about us declining two offers?’ The Matchroom lawyers came with, ‘Oh, we didn’t realize you sent back a counteroffer,’ which I find it hard to believe because how can you say we declined anything when you never looked at the response to your offer?”
It looks like there’s a bit of confusion with Matchroom about the negotiations between Ennis and Norman. Are they overwhelmed or do simply not want the fight with Norman? If they prefer Boots fight a rematch with Karen, it makes sense for them to freeze out the talks with Norman.
Is Matchroom Avoiding the Fight?
“The first offer was ridiculous, but the second offer was close. We could work that a little bit. So, anyway, we asked, ‘Was that your final offer?’ There has been no response since then. Eddie Hearn said Brian Norman, me and my son said reach out to him soon so we could get this done,” said Brian Sr.
What Norman Jr. is saying doesn’t sound good. If this is going to be the norm for how all Boots Ennis’ negotiations are going to go while trying to unify the welterweight division, he should move up to 154 and give up on his goal. He doesn’t need to bs sitting inactive or wasting time fighting guys like Karen or David Avanesyan.
“That’s exactly what we did. It’s been seven days since the first contract was sent,” said Norman Sr. “I know they work on Saturdays. I know they’re up and running on Saturdays. Here it is 4 o’clock the next Saturday, and we’re waiting to see what’s happening.
“Again, with all respect to Team Ennis, we’re all with it. We got nothing but love for it. We hope people don’t think all that [stuff] was rah-rah towards them. None of that. We want the smoke in the ring. It has nothing to do with it being personal. Bozy didn’t turn the fight down; let me make that clear. Boots didn’t turn the fight down,” said Norman Sr.
If Hearn doesn’t want Boots to fight Norman, it’s perfectly logical that the talks have been frozen. A rematch with Karen or whoever else Hearn has that he’d like Boots to fight is much easier—maybe one of Hearn’s British fighters, like Conor Benn.
Norman Sr. Remains Hopeful
“I don’t think anyone is lying. I just think it’s a bunch of misinformation going around, but at this point, it looks like it’s [nonsense] going around because we clearly reached out and said, ‘What’s your final offer?’ That was 24 hours. Nobody has said a word,” said Norman Sr.
“So, if you can respond and say that you didn’t realize we sent an offer. Then we asked you, ‘What is your counteroffer?’ And we say, ‘What is your final offer? You say nothing at all. That sounds kind of fishy. So, I reached out to Bozy to let him know what’s going on.
“I guess he’s going to do what he do on his end, and we’re going to do what we do on this end to make the best fight for the fans to see at 147,” said Norman Sr.
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