Norman Jr. Explains Ennis Unification Delay: Money

Brian Norman Jr. says he still wants the unification fight against unified welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis after he defends his WBO belt against Jin Sasaki on June 19th. Norman Jr. (27-0, 21 KOs) says he doesn’t care about the “marination process” for a clash against Ennis. It was the “money” that prevented them from agreeing to the fight last year.

Norman Jr. will be on the road on June 19th, defending against Sasaki (19-1-1, 17 KOs) at the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. Some fans see this fight as an example of Norman Jr. ducking Boots Ennis. From his perspective, he wasn’t going to agree to the unification fight for chump change.

Money vs. Marination

“I don’t care about the marination process. We can make this fight happen next. I don’t mind at all,” said Brian Norman Jr. to Fight Hub TV about his interest in fighting Jaron Ennis. “It was definitely the funds. It was definitely the money.”

What Norman Jr. does care about is money. If his asking price isn’t going to be met, he needs to forget about Boots and focus on just making regular defenses. While some fans believe Norman Jr. and his father are trying to stall Ennis, knowing that he will soon move up to 154, they’ve made it clear that they’re not going to be lowballed. They want the fight, but they’re not going to accept less than what they feel they deserve.

“This is an opportunity to show that the road warrior is about to do it again,” said Norman Jr. about him traveling to Japan to defend against Jin Sasaki in Tokyo, Japan on June 19th. “So, we went out, weighed our options to see if we got anything else on the table, and we didn’t. Then, we got a very eager opponent [Sasaki] in front of us. Let’s see what he’s talking about.”

Being a road warrior against a fighter like Sasaki isn’t the same as being one against someone like Boots Ennis. It’s easy to fight in someone’s hometown if you’re fighting guys like Sasaki.

Sasaki Callout Details

“He didn’t come up to me all disrespectful like between overseas and over here. Y’all know what the boxing culture is like over here,” said Norman Jr. about how Sasaki called him out after his win over Derriek Cuevas on March 29th in Las Vegas.

Sasaki would have shot himself in the foot if he had approached Norman Jr. for his callout. He would have been forced to fight in a WBO title eliminator if Brian Jr. had said no, and the chances are that Sasaki would have lost to whoever he fought. He’s a decent contender, but he’d come undone against fighters like Karen Chukhadzhian, Ekow Essuman, and Rohan Polanco.

“There’s a whole bunch of disrespect. I love boxing. I like to fight. I don’t have to be mad at you. None of this is emotional. I just like beating people up. I don’t know why. It’s just fun.

“So, he [Sasaki] came up to me real respectful-like. ‘Okay, I’m going to go to your city. I’m going to come to your country really respectfully, and we can duke it out over there,” said Norman Jr. about Jin Sasaki.

Ennis Fight Finances

If it’s true that the money offered to Norman Jr. for the Sasaki fight is more than the $1.7 million offered by promoter Eddie Hearn to fight Jaron Ennis in a unification, it’s understandable why he chose to take this fight.

Hearn should have sweetened the offer by $ 500,000, which was the amount Norman Sr. was asking for, because it’s unlikely that Team Norman will agree to $1.7 million in the future. If anything, they’ll want more, and Hearn will be kicking himself for not agreeing to the $2.2 million they were asking for.