Brian Norman Sr. says promoter Eddie Hearn doesn’t care about Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and he is “question” her talent after her lackluster performance against Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9.
Norman Sr. claims that Hearn doesn’t want Boots to fight Vergil Ortiz Jr. because he does not want to lose to one of the fighters of the Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya. Brian Sr. says that he thinks that Hearn told his Excellency Turki Alalshikh to send a contract with 147 as the weight for the Boots fight, knowing that Vergil Jr. This would make him and De La Hoya look bad, as if they are ducking Boots (33-0, 29 KOs).
This move will serve two purposes:
- Ennis would avoid an almost certain loss against Vergil
- Making Boots look scary
IBF Title “Excuse”
Norman Sr. He points out that comments Hearn made about Ennis worrying about having to vacate his IBF welterweight title if he moves to challenge Ortiz Jr. for his interim WBC 154-lb belt are nonsense. Hearn knows that’s not the case.
Boots already defended against his IBF mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9, so the sanctioning body will allow him to go through a fight against Vergil Jr. Brian Sr. he says he was a “play” by Hearn saying that Ennis would lose his IBF 147-lb title if he moves 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 to be able to swerve the fight against Ortiz Jr., which he will probably lose.
“An offer was made to (WBC welterweight champion Mario) Barrios for Conor Benn. Why? Eddie doesn’t care about Boots. He never talked about Boots. He played it from the start,” said Brian Norman Sr. MillCity BoxingSpeaking of Eddie Hearn never mind Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, who promotes.
“Boots had a poor performance in his last fight (Karen Chukhadzhian). So, Eddie questions Boots now. Eddie hears what people are saying about Boots. So, now you have to think about his concern about losing Oscar ( De La Hoya).I don’t think (Ennis) wanted him to fight (Vergil Ortiz Jr) anyway.
“I don’t believe that Turki Alalshikh was behind sending that contract for 147. Who had a personal deal with Turki Alalshikh? Eddie Hearn. It’s a game. He told them to do that. There’s no reason for them to do that when they knew that Vergil Ortiz moved for the same reason that he can’t make the weight”.
Conor Over Boots?
Norman Sr’s comment about an “offer” 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 not being able to make a fight with Barrios for him. But here he is, making an offer to Barrios for him to fight Conor, who has never fought a world fighter and is seen as the pampered son of a famous British fighter, Nigel Benn.
“Boots already defended his title (IBF 147-lb) against his mandate (Chukhadzhian). There is 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 I knew it wasn’t going to happen,” Norman Jr. said.
Hearn’s comment that Ennis would have to relinquish his IBF title if he were to go up to 154 for the Vergil fight went right over the heads of casual fans and the media. Norman Sr. he is right Ennis could go up to 154 without losing his IBF title. Hearn would just have to inform the IBF first what they plan to do to receive the authorization, and then it wouldn’t be a problem.
“She could have made Vergil say, ‘No, because I can’t do 147’. She could have tried to get Oscar to refuse to save his own face. Now that that hasn’t happened, it seems she’s backtracking and it looks like Boots did it,” Norman Sr. said.
