“If Norman has the b**ls to step up and fight Boots Ennis, then fair play to him,” Eddie Hearn told Boxing Scenes last year. He wanted to arrange a unification bout for his newest star Jaron Ennis with WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. According to Hearn, he made two solid offers to Top Rank for Brian Norman Jr.—both of which got shot down. He figured the money was good enough to get a deal done, but instead of a counteroffer, he received silence. So, with no title unification fight locked in, ‘Boots’ chose to defend his IBF title against Karen Chukhadzhian instead. That was November of last year.

Now almost seven months since being elevated to full champion, Brian Norman Jr. defended his WBO title for the first time in Vegas on the Mikaela Mayer-Sandy Ryan undercard. And what a defense it was! He took on Derrieck Cuevas and stopped him in the third round. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, though. Norman (27-0, 21 KOs) got tagged a bit early, but he shook it off, turned up the heat, and started breaking Cuevas down. By the second round, Norman was in full control, and by the third, he dropped Cuevas hard. Cuevas didn’t look too eager to continue, and referee Thomas Taylor called it at 2:59 of round 3.

So now, the big question: What’s next for the 24-year-old? Will Eddie Hearn finally figure out a way to get his guy in the ring with Norman? A few hours ago, Boxing n BBQ shared a clip on X with Norman explaining his side. “Brian Norman Jr said Eddie Hearn tried to force him into a wall with the Boots fight and he wasn’t having it,” the caption on the clip read.

In the clip, Brian Norman was seen speaking to the media during his post-fight interview. A reporter asked Brian Norman if money was the reason for the delay in making the Jaron Ennis fight happen. But The Assassin II wasn’t having it. He responded, “Nah, it wasn’t just about the money—it was the whole business side of things.”

He specifically called out Eddie Hearn, saying he didn’t like how Hearn does business. According to Norman, Hearn “was trying to force us to like a little wall and all that.” And that didn’t sit right with him. As a result, Brian Norman made it clear—he’s not the type to be forced into a fight. “Like I said, I’m a grown man. But you ain’t forcing my hand on anything,” he added. In the end, he reminded everyone that “I’m a champion just like how the dude(Boots) is.”

Translation? Norman felt like he wasn’t being respected in the negotiations, and he wasn’t going to accept just anything thrown at him. But if not Boots Ennis, then who? Don’t worry—Brian Norman had an answer ready for that.

Brian Norman doesn’t want Mario Barrios to babysit his WBC belt

Brian Norman Jr. isn’t sitting around waiting—he’s got his sights set on big fights, and he knows exactly who he wants next—WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios. “Barrios over there hiding in the corner doing his little thing or whatever,” Norman Jr. said in his post-fight interview yesterday. “Where he at man? I’m trying to get that belt up off of you. Everybody trying to go undisputed out here and you’re just sitting over here babysitting. I need to go ahead and get that up off him and go undisputed with whoever wins the fight on April 12.”

If you didn’t know, Mario Barrios, along with all the others, was promoted to full WBC champion after Terence Crawford left the division. Now, with the welterweight division heating up, the timing couldn’t be better for a potential unification bout between either of the champions.

Meanwhile, over in Atlantic City, Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis are set to clash on April 12 for the IBF and WBA titles. The winner of that fight will walk away with two of the four major belts, leaving Norman Jr. and Barrios to sort things out on their side before the eventual unification bout.

And let’s be real—if Norman Jr. keeps looking as sharp as he has lately, he’d likely be the heavy favorite against Barrios, whose only title defense ended in a draw against Abel Ramos last year. If the Decatur native gets past Barrios and Boots beats Stanionis, we’re looking at one of the biggest fights boxing can make—a true undisputed showdown between Norman Jr. and Ennis.

Now the question is: Will Barrios step up, or will Brian Norman have to chase another big fight? Do let us know your thoughts below.