Promoter Eddie Hearn says WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. turned down “more than” $1.5 million for a unification fight with IBF champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
Norman Jr’s father, Brian Sr, says the original gift was less than a third of what Boot made for David Avanesyan last July. “It was a little more than what David Avanesyan gave you, and my son is a world champion,” Brian Sr. said. on social media.
Hearn’s Motives Down Under?
Brian Sr says Hearn didn’t want to fight. He just wanted to be out in the open pretend he was trying to get Bots-Norman Jr to fight to get back to Boot later and say he tried.
Some fans believe that Hearn’s real interest is making the Boot vs. Karen Chukhadzhian repeat. They also believe that Hearn wants to match Boots against his fighter, Conor Benn, in a fight inside the Matchroom. That’s Hearn’s silver tuna—Karen’s duplicate.
It is not an isolated incident
It looks like Hearn won’t be able to get too strong to get the unification fights Boot Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) needs to become the undisputed champion. Norman Jr. is not the only one who has complaints about the small amount of money Hearn is giving him. WBA champion Eimantas Stanionis also mentioned money.
If Hearn doesn’t want to pay the champs a walking rate, Boot might as well forget about staying at 147 to try and go uncontested because it’s not going to happen.
He should move up to 154 and forget the doubt because he will probably face the same problems in that weight class. Instead of collecting belts, Boots should focus on fighting the best guys at 154, be it Terence Crawford, Vergil Ortiz, Tim Tszyu and Israel Madrimov.
“The second offer was less than half of what Boots made in his last fight,” Norman Sr. said. about the money Hearn gave him to fight Ennis. “The third gift was half of what Boots made in his last fight. So imagine what Boot will do in this merger battle. Significantly more than he did in his last fight.
“You [Hearn] I didn’t want to do this fight. The reason why he told Boot and his team to try to fight. You didn’t fight. Give it to me [Boots’ dad] Bozy numbers. I told Bozy what it was. Bozy knows that’s bull,” said Norman Sr.
Champions won’t accept $1 to $2 million to fight Boot, especially if they’re underdogs. They are in a position to potentially lose their title, and the money Hearn is offering doesn’t make it worth it. Norman Jr and the other two champions are 147 years old, they are better off making title defenses and holding onto their belts as long as possible. In the long run, they will earn a lot more money than they would by fighting Boot Ennis.
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