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Tim Bradley feels that WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. will be fine with his career despite turning down a $1.7 million offer for a unification fight against IBF champ Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
Norman’s Long-Term Vision
As long as Norman (26-0, 20 KOs) keeps winning, it won’t be a big deal that he walked away from the $1.7M offer to fight against Boots. That low offer is a drop in the bucket compared to the kind of dough Norman can make if he continues to win for the next two or three years.
Norman Jr. has a better chance of becoming the undisputed champion at welterweight than Boots Ennis because his promoters at Top Rank believe in him, and they won’t be miserly when it comes to negotiations with the other belt-holders at 147. They’ll get the job done in putting together those fights for Norman.
“It is a risky move, but you got to bet on yourself and you can’t lose. All he has to do is continue to win. His money will steadily increase,” said Tim Bradley to the Probox TV YouTube channel about WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. still coming out ahead despite turning down a $1.7 million guaranteed payday for a unification fight against IBF champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis for November 9th.
It may seem crazy to some boxing fans that Norman turned down the biggest payday of his career and is making considerably less for his defense against Derrick Cuevas on November 8th on the undercard of Keyshawn Davis vs. Gustavo Lemos, but that was a bad deal that Hearn was offering him.
He offered Norman Jr. small money to fight in Boots’ hometown of Philadelphia, where he might have needed a knockout to win. The money Norman would make after losing his WBO title would be next to nothing.
Hearn’s Lack of Confidence in Ennis
If Hearn had wanted the fight badly enough, he would have come up with the $2.2 million that Norman was asking for, or he would have agreed to stage the fight in Las Vegas. That was the alternative offer that Brian Norman Sr. wanted. He’d agree to Hearn’s $1.7 million if the fight were held in Las Vegas, but that offer wasn’t accepted.
Boots’ promoter, Eddie Hearn, doesn’t act like a person who is sold on him. You could see that with Hearn’s actions last week, failing in the negotiations with Norman and then losing the purse bid for Ennis’ mandatory Karen Chukhadzhian. That’s a bad sign.
If you’re Ennis, you must note Hearn’s failures and view them as a signal that he’s not one of his favorites in his Matchroom stable. He needs to think carefully about whatever fights Hearn offers Boots because they might not help his career, starting with the defense against Karen.
“Understand this. He’s not a million-dollar fighter yet. His minimums have to get raised before he takes that big risk of taking that $1.7 [million] because once he gets beaten and he doesn’t have a strap, he’s at the back of the line,” said Bradley about Norman Jr.
Norman’s Star Potential
Norman has the ingredients to be a much bigger star than Boots Ennis can ever hope to be due to his fighting style, natural charisma, and his father, Brian Sr.
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