Brian Norman Sr. says promoter Eddie Hearn doesn’t care about Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and is “questioning” his talent after his lackluster performance against Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9th.
Norman Sr. states that Hearn doesn’t want Boots to fight Vergil Ortiz Jr. because he doesn’t want to see him lose to one of Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya’s fighters. Brian Sr. says he thinks Hearn told His Excellency Turki Alalshikh to send a contract with 147 as the weight for the Boots fight, knowing that Vergil Jr. would refuse. That would make him and De La Hoya look bad, as if they’re ducking Boots (33-0, 29 KOs).
That move would serve two purposes:
- Ennis would be avoiding a near-certain loss to Vergil
- Making Boots look feared
IBF Title “Excuse”
Norman Sr. points out that comments that Hearn made about Ennis worried about having to vacate his IBF welterweight title if he moves up to challenge Ortiz Jr. for his WBC interim 154-lb belt are nonsense. Hearn knows that’s not the case.
Boots already defended against his IBF mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9th, so the sanctioning body would allow him to move up for one fight against Vergil Jr. Brian Sr. says that was a “Play” on Hearn’s part by saying that Ennis would lose his IBF 147-lb title if he goes up to 154 for a one-off against Vergil Jr.
Hearn knows that Boots will not lose his IBF title, but he just wanted an excuse to give the media so he could swerve the fight against Ortiz Jr., which he’d likely lose.
“An offer was made to [WBC welterweight champion Mario] Barrios for Conor Benn. Why? Eddie don’t give a f*** about Boots. He never gave a f*** about Boots. He was playing him from the start,” said Brian Norman Sr. to MillCity Boxing, talking about Eddie Hearn not caring about Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, who he promotes.
“Boots had a lackluster performance in his last fight [Karen Chukhadzhian]. So, Eddie is questioning Boots now. Eddie hears what people are saying about Boots. So, now you got to think about his worry for losing to Oscar [De La Hoya]. I don’t think he [Ennis] wanted him to fight him [Vergil Ortiz Jr] anyway.
“I don’t believe Turki Alalshikh was behind sending that contract for 147. Who had personal dealing with Turki Alalshikh? Eddie Hearn. It’s a play. He told him to do that. There’s no reason for them to do that when they knew that Vergil Ortiz moved up for the very same reason that he can’t make the weight.”
Conor Over Boots?
Norman Sr’s comment about an “offer” being made to WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios for him to defend against his Matchroom fighter, Conor Benn, reflects his preference for him over Ennis. That supports Norman Sr’s argument that Hearn doesn’t care about Boots because he had talked about being unable to set up a fight with Barrios for him. But here he is, making an offer to Barrios for him to fight Conor, who has never beaten a world-class fighter and is viewed as the pampered son of a famous British fighter, Nigel Benn.
“Boots already defended his [IBF 147-lb] title against his mandatory [Chukhadzhian]. There’s no reason for him not to go to 154 to fight Vergil Ortiz. I think Eddie told Turki Alalshikh to send that [contract] for 147 because he knew it wasn’t going to happen,” said Norman Jr.
Hearn’s comment that Ennis would have to give up his IBF title if he were to go up to 154 for the Vergil fight has gone right over the heads of casual fans and the media. Norman Sr. is right. Ennis could go up to 154 without losing his IBF title. Hearn would just need to inform the IBF beforehand what they plan on doing to receive clearance, and then it wouldn’t be an issue.
“He might have did it so Vergil would say, ‘No, because I can’t do 147.’ He might have been trying to get Oscar to turn it down to save his own face. Now that it’s not happening, it looks like it’s backfiring on him and it’s looking like it’s Boots that did it,” said Norman Sr.
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