Brian Norman Sr. Justifies Taking 3 Fights Match A Boots Payday
Well following weeks of hoopla, the potential grudge match between WBO welterweight champion Brian “The Assassin II” Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KO’s) and IBF 147-pound champ Jaron “Boots” Ennis (32-0, 29 KO’s) is officially dead. According to Team Norman, the $1.7 million that they were being offered was not significant enough to get them in the ring. That is despite this purse being well over a million dollars north of their biggest payday of $190,000. As has been his habit of late, Brain Norman Sr. took to the media to air out his thoughts and feelings on the matter.
In a recent interview, Senior explained in greater detail to Mill City Boxing why this duel didn’t make sense for them.
“Champions have minimums that they fight for. So as of this day, my son is going to make significantly more than what you just said [$190K] guaranteed because he has fight minimums, so he is going to make more than that in his next fight . . . Well, let me tell you the breakdown first, so y’all understand where we going with this in the first. When you cross the street, you got to pay your promoter. So, for us to fight on Eddie Hearn card, he [Norman Jr.] automatically got to pay Top Rank 20 to 25%. That’s like $300,000 gone off top . . . Bottomline, fast forward to the end of everything at $1.7 million and everything is done, I think my son takes home $800 something thousand dollars.”
“I want my son to come home with at least one [million], and with one I want him to be a millionaire after he spend a couple of dollars. So, I wanted him to come home with 1.2 . . . With that being said, with his minimums right now, he can fight three times a year and make the exact same thing what they just said and be on comfortable grounds, be on his side of the street, not have to worry about paying 25%, not have to worry about the different tax bracket – it was a whole lot of thought into this.”
BUT IS THAT WHAT THE FIGHTER WANTS?!
To some, one of the most glaring elements of this explanation is that never once did Norman Sr. say, “this is what my son wanted”, or “this is what my son told me to do.” Naturally, everything he said could have come straight from The Assassin II. Yet it gives the heavy impression that the father was the greater influence over the fighter. If that is the case, it would be very revealing to hear firsthand how Norman Jr. felt about this offer and fight opportunity.
HUSTLING BACKWARDS
From the outside looking in, their rejection still doesn’t make a bunch of sense. To begin, paying taxes, trainers, staff, sanctioning fees and the like is something that every champion has to do. Team Norman is not pioneering anything in this regard. So why Norman Sr. seems so indignant about this is a mystery.
Secondly, the other two champions, Mario Barrios (WBC) and Eimantas Stanionis (WBA Regular), are both PBC fighters. This is said to say, if Brian Norman Jr. plans on unifying, he would still have to “cross the street” and would be beholden to paying Top Rank their cut to do so. Yet, it’s hard to believe that either Barrios or Stanionis matches will offer comparable money to the duel with Boots. So, once again, theoretically, they are still thumbing their nose at life-changing money with nothing else to replace it.
Lastly, Team Norman has scoffed at the Matchroom Boxing offer and then openly said they’d have to fight 3 times to make the same money. That means undergoing three training camps, competing three times, and rolling the dice on an injury or losing three separate times. How undergoing all of that to make the same money they can make in one fight is a smarter choice is anyone’s guess. Considering if they won, they can easily double their money in a rematch and would still only be two fights. For their sake, let’s hope that Team Norman doesn’t look back on this decision in the very near future with bitter regret!
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