Brian Norman Jr. has revealed his hitlist for 2025, which includes IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis as his primary target. He also wants Teofimo Lopez, but good luck to that.
Targeting ‘Boots’
WBO 147-lb champion Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KOs) may be willing to come down from his $2.2 million asking price to the $1.7 million that ‘Boots ‘ Ennis’ promoter Eddie Hearn had offered him recently for a fight on November 8th in Philadelphia.
Hearn was unwilling to increase his offer by $500K, which was a mistake. Ennis’ stock plummeted after his poor performance in his rematch with Karen Chukhadzhian on November 8th at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. In hindsight,
Hearn may wish he’d ponied up the additional $500,000 that Norman Jr. wanted for the unification fight in Philly. If the British promoter could do it again, he likely wouldn’t have been a Scrooge McDuck in the negotiations. Hearn must have thought Jaron would pitch another shutout of Chukadzhian as he did in their previous fight on January 7, 2023.
He didn’t consider the possibility of Karen working on his power game and coming into the rematch fighting like a smaller version of Artur Beterbiev. He out-slugged and outboxed Boots, making him look like a novice.
Ennis’ value has fallen off a cliff since that fight, and he’s almost worthless. Karen was putting hands on Ennis and looked like a mini-Beterbiev. Hearn had to have been kicking himself for not getting that deal done after watching Jaron get embarrassed. .
What hurt his value even more was his turning down a fight against WBC interim 154-lb champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. for Turki Alalshikh’s Riyadh Season card on February 22nd. That made Ennis look like a grade-A chicken.
Norman Jr’s 2025 Vision
- Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis
- Teofimo Lopez
- 140 & 147-lb champion
“2025 is my year. I got me a whole hit list marked down. I can see the target, but I’m starting out with Boots, that boy over in Philly,” said Brian Norman Jr. on social media. “I’m going to go over here and get that over and done with. I got to make that happen before he moves to 154.
“After that, Teo is playing games. He’s playing games. He’s thinking about going to 147. If you’re thinking about doing it, I’m right here. If you want to fight at 140, I’m with the WBO. I’ll come down to 140 with you. It’s not a problem at all.
“That’s also for all the other 140-lb champs. Anybody can get it. I just want that to be known. I’ve been quiet for too long. That’s my mistake, but I’m tightening up. Now, it’s time to take over this whole boxing game,” said Norman Jr.
Norman Jr, 24, needs to get back in the ring because he hasn’t fought since knocking out Giovani Santillan in the tenth round on May 18th at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California. He should have already fought by now.
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