Eddie Hearn says he’s made an offer to sign IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, but he’s not sure if he’ll be successful.
Hearn can sign Boots if he can convince him and his dad that he won’t languish in obscurity, fighting little-known British fighters without turning into a star.
Demetrius Andrade was with Matchroom, but he was matched against obscure British fighters, and it didn’t help his star power in the U.S. If Boots signs with Matchroom, could this happen to him, too? That’s a big yes.
Hearn’s Proposition
According to Hearn, all it will take for him to transform the unbeaten Boots Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) into a star is “six to twelve months, and then he would have no problems getting the top champions to face him.
Matchroom promoter Hearn wants to raise Boots Ennis’ profile so that the other fighters in the welterweight division won’t avoid him, as they’re doing now.
The only way to get the top 147-pounders to face Boots is to make him a star, but that’s hard to do without two or three well-known fighters willing to face him. Hearn could lure the top welterweights to fight Boots by offering them millions, but then he would lose money when the fight fails to cover the expenditures.
Path to Stardom
The problem that Hearn has is his lack of fighters in his stable that he could put Boots Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs) in with. Even if Hearn signed him, the only guy that would be willing to face him is Conor Benn.
Devin Haney won’t fight him for obvious reasons. He’d wreck Haney’s career by exposing him. If Hearn could deliver Haney to Boots Ennis so he would destroy him, he might sign, but he’s not going to do that. Bill Haney would veto that idea in a second because he and Devin got a good hustle going, fighting old guys and trying to entice Ryan Garcia.
Hearn mentioned wanting to put Boots in with 34-year-old Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner, but that’s a bad idea because it wouldn’t increase Ennis’ popularity, and the backlash would be tremendous if he agreed to take that fight. U.S. fans would destroy Boots on social media if he fought Broner.
“We need to get Ennis to that – it’s only going to take six to twelve months,” said Eddie Hearn to ProBox TV about wanting to sign Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. “We need to get him to that level where another welterweight will fight him because it’s a big fight. Not, ‘I ain’t fighting Ennis.’
“We’ve made him offers. I don’t know if anything will happen, but we’d love it.
“One of the comments from ‘Bozy’ was, ‘Can Matchroom deliver us the other champions?’. Can anyone? Because he’s that good. The other champions will not want to fight Ennis because his profile’s not big enough,” said Hearn.
