Brian Norman Jr. has turned down the biggest paycheck of his career. In the process, he has denied IBF welterweight champion Jaron Ennis the unification bout he desperately wanted. Boots’ promoter Eddie Hearn offered Norman Jr. even $1.7 million for the fight, but the latter’s team rejected it. Reportedly, Norman wanted more than $2 million for the fight which Hearn didn’t want to pay, and subsequently, the negotiations halted.

As things stand, Norman Jr, after pricing himself out of a main-event fight, will now feature in the co-main event of a card headlined by Keyshawn Davis in his homecoming main event against Gustavo Daniel Lemos. It will be a 12-round contest where he will be going up against Derrieck Cuevas on November 8 at Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.

The Brian Norman Jr’s welterweight belt will be at stake. The ‘Assassin II’ won the WBO Interim welterweight championship belt after knocking out Giovani Santillan in May. The 23-year-old Georgia native was then elevated to the status of full champion after Terence Crawford vacated all four welterweight titles after moving to 154 lbs weight division.

Meanwhile, Cuevas, with a record of 27-1-1 is coming into the showdown with Brian Norman Jr on the back of a four-fight knockout streak. This will be the 29-year-old’s first world title challenge. In his last fight, Cuevas stopped Marlon Aguas in the sixth round. His only defeat in his career came against Damian Ezequiel Bonelli via a split decision.

Amidst the accusations of ducking that are being hurled against Norman Jr. for snubbing the Boots fight, the finalization of his bout with Derrieck Cuevas came really quickly. Thus it begs the question: was Norman Jr.’s negotiating tactics with Ennis and Eddie Hearn just a mere PR stunt, to avoid a unification bout?

On the other hand, Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn was fuming after negotiations with Brian Norman Jr’s team fell through.

It would have been a 50/50 split!

Reportedly, Hearn sent three fight offers to Brian Norman Jr’s team. Each time a new offer was sent, Brian Norman Jr was offered a ‘quarter of a million’ more than what was proposed earlier. Still, they turned down all the offers, and the fight was dead in the water. Frustrated over failed fight negotiations, Hearn took a dig at Brian Norman Jr and his manager Adrian Clark in an interview with IFL TV. “Congratulations guys, you f***ed it up; you’re gonna get $200,000 to fight on a prospect’s undercard,” he said.

Further, mocking Brian Norman Sr. for overestimating his son’s worth, Hearn said, “Well done. Magical… Brian Norman Sr., he’s like Bill Haney from Wish.” Hearn further revealed that Ennis was willing to take a 50/50 split of the fight purse, and elaborated on the amount of money Norman Jr missed out on. “Because of what Boots was prepared to take for the unification, this [would’ve been] a 50/50 split. Yet Norman won’t take 17 ½x what he made in his last fight. That’s where the game is so messed up,” he said bluntly.

Nevertheless, what do you think about Brian Norman Jr’s upcoming fight? Did he do the right thing by turning down the offer to fight Jaron Ennis in the unification bout? Let us know in the comment section below.