WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr’s father & trainer, Brian Sr., posted a message on Instagram to IBF champ Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and his promoter Eddie Hearn, telling them that they’re interested in making a unification fight next.
“We Said Yes to the Fight”
Earlier today, Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) revealed in an interview that Team Norman had received an offer, but they turned it down. Norman Sr. denies they’d turned it down but made a counteroffer.
He’s still interested in making the fight with Boots Ennis, and he says he’s “not the boogeyman” of the welterweight division. He says people just “lie” to Boots, saying no one wants to fight him.
Outside of Boots, Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KOs) is viewed as the best of the welterweight champions and the one he most has to worry about. The other two, Mario Barrios and Eimantis Stanionis, are paper champions who have never beaten anyone of note and look suspect.
If Hearn can’t set up the unification fights that Boots Ennis requires for him to accomplish his goal of becoming undisputed 147-lb champion, he’s going to need to move up to 154 because he’ll be wasting his career staying in this dead, barren of life division.
A Failure to Communicate
“Your people told you a lie. We said, Yes to the fight.’ We simply made a counteroffer,” Brian Norman Sr. said on Instagram, reacting to Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis saying in an interview that Team Norman rejected their offer two days ago for a unification fight.
We seem to have a failure to communicate here. If Norman Sr. asked for a counteroffer, that translates to him rejecting the offer. In other words, Boots Ennis didn’t “lie” when he said today that Team Norman rejected the offer. If they made a counteroffer, it means they turned down Ennis’s offer.
It’s up to Eddie Hearn if he wants to agree to the counteroffer from Norman Sr. If it’s out of Hearn’s budget, there is no fight, and Ennis will need to give up on his vision of becoming undisputed unless His Excellency Turki Alalshikh wants to help Hearn out.
Turki isn’t interested in this type of fight. He wants to match Boots against Terence Crawford because that’s much bigger. He believes in massive fights, and Norman Jr. isn’t well-known enough for a match between him and Boots to gain much traction with fans.
“I called your pops, Bozy Ennis, and told him after we accepted,” said Norman Sr to Boots. “He didn’t know about it. We have plenty of time to make this fight happen next. You, sir, are not the Boogeyman you think you are. People just lie to you and say people don’t want to fight you.”
We don’t know how good Boots Ennis is because his opposition has been mostly pedestrian-level fighters like David Avanesyan, Roiman Villa, Karen Chukhadzhian, Custio Clayton, and Thomas Dulorme.
Norman Sr. Insists They’re Ready
“[Bleep] all that. We’re up next. Call Hearn and tell him we are up next. Eddie Hearn, stop that [stuff]. We’ve got plenty of time. Jaron Ennis, the way you said we turned it down was hilarious. You are not the best, and we are about to show you. Let’s get it.”
We’ll soon see if Hearn wants to indulge Team Norman’s offer request. It might be too much if he asks for an absurd amount because it’s not a fight that will get a lot of interest from U.S. fans.
Norman Jr. isn’t well-known yet. He’s a new champion at 147, and the only name on his resume is Giovani Santillan. Ennis isn’t a household name either, and it’s not a fight that will sell on DAZN PPV.
