Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis was bad-mouthing WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. last Saturday night, ripping him for overpricing himself and using his name for clout.
Boots, 27, added the WBA title to his collection with a sixth-round stoppage win over champion Eimantas Stanionis (15-1, 9 KOs) last Saturday night at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
If Ennis and his promoter are unwilling to meet the asking price for Brian Norman Jr, Boots should just move up now to 154 because he’s never going to accomplish his goal of becoming undisputed.
Price Tag Problem
Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) and his promoter Eddie Hearn want a unification fight against Norman Jr. (27-0, 21 KOs) to continue chasing his goal of becoming undisputed. He needs Norman Jr. to further that goal, but it’s going to be next to impossible to set that fight up without investment by Hearn and DAZN.
The $2.2 million that Brian Jr. asked for to fight Boots on November 9th last year could double after last night’s performance by Ennis against Stanionis. Boots and Hearn may wish that they had sweetened the deal with the extra $500K that Norman Jr. asked for.
That’s all it would have taken to get the fight done, but it didn’t happen. So, there would be some regret on the part of Boots and his promoter if Norman Jr. wants considerably more than last time.
“He’s on a social media tour right now. They’re talking and trying to build their name up off me. That’s it,” said Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis at the post-fight press conference last night, talking about WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. clout-chasing to gain secondary fame.
“That’s what they’ve been doing,” said trainer Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis about Brian Norman Jr.
Norman Jr. and his dad, Brian Sr., appear to mention only Boots Ennis’ name when asked about him. They’re not talking up a storm about Ennis because they’ve moved on. Brian Jr. doesn’t have a hangup about wanting to capture all the titles at 147 to validate his self-worth. His focus is more on fighting the best available, willing fighters that want to get in the ring with him. He seems well-grounded and isn’t insecure, needing to capture titles to make him feel better about himself.
The Offer
“They’re not really about it. If any of y’all in there made $100,000 in your last fight and y’all got offered $2 million [correction: Norman Jr. was offered $1.7M to fight Boots but he wanted $2.2M] to fight me, what ya’ll doing?” said Boots Ennis. “Y’all going to fight me, right? That’s the end of the story right there, a closed case. That shows what he’s about.”
“You seen when Brian Norman fought in his last fight [against Derrieck Cuevas], he got caught on the chin. Look what happened. Imagine if Boots hit him on the chin. He’s going to sleep,” said Bozy Ennis.
