BOOTS AND HEARN TELL WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONS – DARE TO BE GREAT!
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 15 Apr 2025
Welterweight king and promoter call for Norman and Barrios to ‘show ambition’
Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Eddie Hearn have called on World champions Brian Norman and Mario Barrios to go toe-to-toe with the newly crowned Welterweight king and crown an undisputed champion at 147lbs.
Ennis (34-0 30 KOs) separated himself from the pack in spectacular fashion on Saturday night in Atlantic City, forcing WBA champion Eimantas Stanionis to retire after six punishing rounds of action live on DAZN.
‘Boots’ showed his devastating mix of power and precision en-route to ripping the WBA strap from the unbeaten Lithuanian and picking up the Ring Magazine strap, presented to him in the ring by Philadelphia 76ers star Tyrese Maxey, who also walked Boots into the ring in front of the packed crowd at the storied Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall.
Following the fight, Boots and Hearn addressed the media and made their intentions clear – to bring Norman or Barrios to Philadelphia for another unification fight in order to get an undisputed ruler at Welterweight.
“I don’t want to sound repetitive, but I’ve been saying, when I fight top of the line guys, that’s when you’ll see a whole different me,” said Ennis. “When I’m in the ring, I’m in my happy place, and when I’ve got a top guy and I’m fighting for something, it’s a whole different story and no-one can mess with me.
“I was just revving my engine and getting going, but I knew he was going to go from like the second round, from certain things he was doing. I wanted to pick it up, but my Pops was like, not yet, take your time, chill, have fun – just stick to the game plan and let it come.
“I took a pay cut for this fight, I took less money, this fight happened because of me, I gave him more money to fight me and that shows who really wanted the fight. “None of these fighters can mess with me, I’m the best fighter in the world. I was just getting into my groove and into my bag.”
“I just hope the other champions have ambition,” said Hearn. “Boots and the team are great to work with because they are chasing greatness. After a performance like that we don’t take less money, we take more money. The other guys, they will get paid, but they have to show ambition. It’s just ‘money, money, money, money’. What about trying to be number one in the division?
“With all due respect to Brian Norman, he just boxed for about $150,000 on the undercard of Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan. If we go back to Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia now, to unify again, Boots will fill the whole place, 18-19,000, unquestionably. There is money in the pot, but you have to show ambition.
“I spoke to Bob Arum and he made it clear to me that they want to try to make the fight. There is probably close to ten-times the biggest payday of Brian Norman’s career to fight Boots. If you don’t want to get int the ring, you might as well retire from the sport, because what’s it all about? That kind of payday to fight the very best in the sport to prove yourself as a pound-for-pound great. Stop with Twitter, stop with Instagram, grow a pair of balls and come and be in one of the biggest fights in the sport. Wells Fargo, back end of the summer or early fall, let’s make it happen.
“Last time they said, ‘we’re not going to Philadelphia.’ Where do you think the money comes from? This is not about being disrespectful, Brian Norman is a great fighter, but don’t you want to make great fights for the sport. Boots is not losing at 147, he’s not losing at 154, he’s not losing at 160 – watch what he does in the next few years, he’s going through all the divisions.
“I think the greatest achievement for any fighter is to be undisputed, I don’t know the ins and outs of how Boots felt at the weight, but certainly at the weigh-in he looked extremely comfortable, and that was always part of the chat after the Karen Chukhadzhian fight, is it time to move up? I would have felt like really, we hadn’t done our job if he moved up without unifying the division.”
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