With Terence Crawford out of the welterweight picture, it seems as though the 147lb scene is set for a changing of the guard and it is expected that Jaron Ennis is preparing to take advantage. However, despite recent reports that Ennis’ first unification bout was close to being signed, it appears as though talks for the clash have collapsed.
Ennis became IBF world champion when Terence Crawford was stripped of the title last year but it wasn’t until July that ‘Boots’ made a first defence of the trinket, returning back to Philadelphia as the hometown hero he had always dreamt of becoming and delivering a stoppage victory over David Avanesyan.
Meanwhile, Brian Norman Jr. was upgraded to full WBO world champion shortly after his knockout win over Giovani Santillman in May and the undefeated American has since called for a unification showdown with his compatriot, in an attempt to claim Ennis’ IBF strap.
After talks originally appeared promising, Eddie Hearn cut a frustrated figure in an interview on the Matchroom Boxing YouTube channel, detailing how Norman Jr. and his father have continuously knocked back their offers and admitted that it is looking like Ennis will instead rematch Karen Chukhadzhian, after the fight was ordered by the IBF.
“It’s frustrating. You hear everything that Brian Norman Sr. his saying and none of it really makes sense. This is a really simple situation, the first offer that was made to Brian Norman Jr. was nicely over $1 million, they said that was ‘nowhere near’.
“We’ve made two more offers, quarter of a million dollars [more] every time now, to levels that Brian Norman will never see. We keep getting told that we are close, then we go back and make another offer, then we are told by his team that we are not that close and I start to think ‘Brian Norman, do you want this fight? Or are you clout-chasing, or as the others might say over here, capping?’.
“Do you want to be great, Brian Norman? I’m not being funny but who is Brian Norman? I know that Brian Norman is a good fighter, but nobody knows who Brian Norman is. We are giving you a bucket load of money and the opportunity for you to unify the division against [someone who is], in my opinion, one of the top pound-for-pounders in the world.
“You say that Boots is overrated, you say that he’s not the bogeyman, so why would you not take this bucket load of money to prove that you’re the best welterweight in the world?”
“We have gone back three times now with more money, with all due respect to Brian Norman, he shouldn’t be making this kind of money, but we are ready and we are prepared to pay him it.
“Now, we are in a situation where the IBF, which is absolutely ridiculous, has ordered [Ennis to rematch] Chukhadzhian.”
Shockingly, despite having a unification proposal on the table, Brian Norman Jr. looks set to instead opt to make a first defence of his WBO title on the undercard of Keyshawn Davis’ fight with Gustavo Lemos on November 8th.
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