Matchroom Boxing CEO Eddie Hearn is looking for a unification bout for his newest charge—IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. To fulfill his objective, Hearn has sent offers to three other champions in the division—Mario Barrios (WBC champion), Brian Norman Jr (WBO champion), and Eimantas Stanionis (WBA Regular champion). However, all of them have seemingly rejected all the fight offers according to what Hearn said in an interview with Matchroom Boxing YouTube channel.

“We’ve made offers to Brain Norman – WBO champion, Mario Barrios – WBC champion, and Eimantas Stanionis – WBA champion – all have been rejected. We’ve made Top Rank two offers now for Brian Norman, both rejected,” Hearn said. The Matchroom head further stated that he has not received any “counter offer” from Norman Jr’s team either. Responding to Hearn’s remarks, Brain Norman Jr.’s father and trainer, Brian Norman Sr., stated that a “counter offer” was indeed sent to Matchroom, but the company’s lawyer wasn’t aware of it.

“After Eddie Hearn did his interview yesterday, we reached out immediately to Matchroom lawyers – the ones that sent the offer – and asked ‘What is this about us declining 2 offers?’ Matchroom lawyer comes back with ‘Oh we didn’t realise you sent a counter offer’,” Norman Sr. stated bluntly.

He further revealed that the first offer that Eddie Hearn’s fight promotion sent was “ridiculous”, and the second one was “close” to his expectations. However, a request for a “final offer” from Norman Jr’s team was met with silence according to Norman Sr. “The first offer (from Matchroom) was ridiculous, the second offer was close and we can work with that a little bit. We asked ‘What’s your final offer?’ There’s been no response, nothing since then,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Brian Norman Jr has reacted to Ennis’ claim that he rejected the offer to fight him.

Who is telling the truth here?

Jaron Ennis is consumed with the hunger to become the undisputed champion. He has made it clear that his next fight will be a unification bout in the welterweight division. “I don’t care [if Norman is next or for undisputed], I want to collect these belts, and I keep saying, I’m frustrated. I don’t want any backward fights; my whole thing is to be undisputed. My mindset is focused on WBC, WBO, WBA, and Ring Magazine. I want to be undisputed,” Boots told YSM Sports Media. Furthermore, he highlighted that an offer was sent to Brian, but he turned it down.

Responding to the claims made by Ennis, Norman Jr. stated that he didn’t “turn a damn thing down”, and instead put the blame on ‘Boots’ for the fight not materializing. According to the claims made by the WBO champion, Ennis is saving the fight for an “undisputed” clash.

“My dad called Bozy (Ennis) and told him we accepted the fight. Then Bozy said ‘Woah, woah, no. We ain’t trying to fight right now. We want to save that for undisputed’. So your daddy is the one who said no, not us,” Norman Jr. stated, disputing the IBF champion’s version of events. Both Ennis and Norman Jr have been promoted from interim to full champion status by the WBO and IBF respectively, after Terence Crawford vacated the belts and moved to 154.

Now, it remains to be seen whether Hearn will be able to deliver on Ennis’ expectations for a unification bout in the welterweight division. More importantly, Hearn has to make sure that these bouts will be a PPV success, and therefore come up with an offer that would be lucrative for all stakeholders including himself. Safe to say, the British promoter will be in no mood to overpay Boots’ prospective opponents.

Do you think Jaron Ennis can fulfill his dream to become the undisputed champion in the welterweight division? Let us know in the comment section below.