Eddie Hearn says he wanted to “lock” WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. into a unification deal right now for a clash against IBF and WBO champ Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, but Norman Jr.’s team told him they wanted to wait until after their fight against Jin Sasaki in June.
Hearn says Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) could face Teofimo Lopez next because Turki Alalshikh wants that fight to happen. He says WBA mandatory Shakhram Giyasov “isn’t the fight that we really want” for Ennis. Hearn hints that they’ll arrange a deal for Giyasov to step aside so that Ennis can fight Norman Jr. or, more likely, Teofimo next.
The Matchroom promoter, Hearn, states that Boots only wants “belts and unifications.” Mandatory defenses aren’t what he wants. He doesn’t say whether Ennis will continue to give step aside deals with Giyasov or the other mandatory challengers that pop up until he achieves his goal of becoming undisputed champion at 147.
That likely is what Ennis to do to speed up the process of becoming undisputed without delay or suffering losses along the way. If a champion can get away with swerving dangerous contenders, it’s a great way to avoid getting beaten and quickly capture belts against weak champions. However, it sets a bad precedent when champions can do this because it’s not sporting.
“Locking In” a Discount?
“He’s [Brian Norman Jr.] absolutely available now. We made them an offer last week. And, we’ve even said to them, ‘If you are taking that fight [Jin Sasaki], let’s lock the fight in for after that, October, November, December, whenever,’” said Eddie Hearn to Chris Mannix’s YouTube channel about how he recently tried to setup a unification fight between his fighter Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Brian Norman Jr.
“And they [Team Norman Jr.] came back and said, ‘We don’t want to talk about any other fight until we have this fight.’ So, I don’t know. We can’t rely on Brian Norman Jr. to chase any kind of greatness because the purse is outrageous in terms of what he’s made. It’s a massive purse in terms of what we’ve offered him,” said Hearn.
Why would Norman Jr. want to negotiate a fight with Boots Ennis before his fight against Jin Sasaki on June 19th in Tokyo, Japan? Norman Jr’s value could skyrocket after that fight if he looks spectacular against Sasaki, and he’d be worth a lot more money in a fight against Ennis afterward. For Hearn to be attempting to negotiate a deal quickly with Norman Jr. now, it suggests that he wants to get him cheap before his value increases. It’s a sneaky move by Hearn. Team Norman Jr. isn’t falling for it. They weren’t born yesterday, and they know what the game is all about.
“Not the Fight We Want”
“We have got the Shakhram Giyasov mandatory [for Boots Ennis’ WBA title], which isn’t really the fight that we want, but we understand his position. He stepped aside to allow the [Eimantas] Stanionis fight, and then the other fight is Teofimo Lopez, which His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] seems to want us to take,” said Hearn.
As you can see here, Hearn is already saying that Giyasov will be avoided so Boots can take another fight. If he doesn’t want to defend against his mandatory challengers, he needs to vacate or be stripped of his WBA title or his IBF if he starts trying to avoid defending against their mandatory challengers, too. I know Ennis wants the superficial artifice of capturing the undisputed at 147, but what kind of accomplishment is if you avoided fighting mandatory challengers all along the way? That’s one of the problems that’s wrong with boxing.
Once popular champions get hold of titles, they swerve their main competition by weaseling out of defending against their mandatory challengers. One example was Canelo Alvarez not defending against David Benavidez when he was his WBC mandatory for two years. It’s happening with Boots Ennis, avoiding his WBA mandatory Giyasov.
“Teo has called it out. I love the fight in terms of our ability, our chances of winning that fight. I think it’s a good fight profile-wise,” said Hearn. “Jaron is very clear in terms of what he wants. Belts, unifications, and undisputed. So, when I talk to him about the Teo fight, he’s kind of like, ‘Yeah, I don’t mind it, but what about the titles?’”
It doesn’t matter what Boots wants. He has mandatory responsibilities if he wants to hold onto his titles. You don’t just win them without having to defend the titles, choosing to fight whoever you please. What Hearn is hinting about here is that Ennis will swerve his WBA mandatory Giyasov and either take a business-level fight against the smaller, low-output fighter Teofimo or less likely, fight a unification against Norman Jr. Giyasov gets skipped for the second time in a row after he was bypassed for the unification clash with Eimantas Stanionis.
Paying to Avoid Competition
“So, if we can’t get a title and if there’s a way to deal with Shakhram Giyasov, whether that’s to fight him in the meantime or whatever, we’re open to the Teofimo Lopez fight. I think it’s a great fight, and respect to Teo if he wants to jump up and take it,” said Hearn.
Ennis should have to fight his mandatory challengers. What kind of champion is he that he circumvents his mandatory responsibilities and only takes big-money fights against the likes of Teofimo or unification matches? Jaron wants to become an undisputed champion at 147; he should have to deal with his mandatory challengers just like any other champion, and not be given special treatment to swerve them to make his job easier.
If Ennis is already doing this at welterweight, you can bet he’ll do the same thing at 154 if he gets his hands on one of the titles. In theory, Boots could swerve highly ranked junior middleweight killers like Vergil Ortiz Jr., Israil Madrimov, and Serhii Bohachuk if he can capture one of the titles at 154.
Just keep paying them step asides into infinity. It shows you what a fighter can do when backed by big money. Once they get their hands on a world title, they can swerve any of the dangerous mandatory contenders to pick and choose different fighters or champions they want to fight. It’s anti-sporting. Imagine for a second what an NBA or NFL team could do if they could pay their main competition to step aside so they can take easy games. What kind of leagues would those be?
“He’s [Giyasov] is our fighter. He’s our friend. One thing we’re not going to be doing is being smart and letting people down,” said Hearn when told by Mannix that Giyasov had already done them a favor by stepping aside to allow Boots Ennis to face WBA champion Stanionis in a unification rather than insisting he get his title shot. “So, we’ve got to make sure we treat everybody fairly [Note: Hearn hinting about another step aside deal for Giyasov].”
There you go. Hearn is hinting big time that he’s going to offer the dangerous Giyasov another step aside deal to get him out of the way, so that Boots Ennis can either fight a unification match against Norman Jr., or more likely, a lucrative clash against Teofimo Lopez next that he says Turki wants. Giyasov is a riskier version of Karen Chukhadzhian, and all wrong for Ennis, who struggles against the highly skilled Eastern European fighters.
Last Updated on 05/12/2025
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