Comments Thread For: Brian Norman Jr. bet on himself - but was it the right decision?

[VislorTurlough]

Protect the belt. De****able

[tokon]

“He has not had a chance to win a world title in the ring, . . . "

Neither has Ennis.

[Left Hook Louie]

Algieri says that Norman bet on himself and I would say the opposite is true. He refused to bet on himself because he believed he could not win that fight. He has chosen to make that money by winning the next 5 fights and staying an undefeated champion by fighting mediocre opposition. Can you imagine any of the all time greats (when they were young up and coming prospects) reject an opportunity like this? Great fighters are always full of confidence and self belief and would jump at an opportunity to fight another champion for a career high purse. Obviously Norman is not one of them. Asking for retirement money at this stage means only one thing - you do not believe there will be another career high payday after the fight with Boots.

Usually a Like for a comment is good enough, but this one is spot-on. Well-said.

[archiemoore1]

I'm not saying anyone is ducking Boots. But so far, Boots' career reminds me of how life was for Charley Burley in the sense that, when he comes in the school yard, it seems like nobody wants to play with him. Some have exited the division, some ask for 15 times more bread than they ever got in their life. I'm not connecting no dots, I'm just saying, when it's all said and done, it just seems like no one with a name is really trying to make a fight with Boots Ennis. People usually are gunning for a belt, but no one wants his belt. I don't think he's a hard guy to make a fight with.

[fistandfury]

If he can get through mandatories, eventually he WILL be an attractive option for a guy moving up trying to grab something at 147, like say for instance, Ryan Garcia. He either will make far more than 1.7 million, or be a punchline in boxing for the rest of his life.

[r.burgundy]

Norman is only 23. By the end of his career he won't be missing that 1.7m. after taxes and camp he was probably only taking home 700k anyway.
Norman can protect the belt and wait Boots out.
Boots wont be at 147 in a year anyways.
Im pretty sure he will be able to get fights with stanionis and barrios

[Corelone]

Its like everything else. The value of a title is the effort a fighter puts into it. An email title is like fools gold and paying one email titleist more than another as Boots getting 3m and Norman getting 1.4m is totally unfair. In my opinion, Boots is the one stagnating playing Eddys ho games.

[Jubei]

Bet on himself? All he did was sh.t himself when Boots knocked on the door.

[Theshotyoudontsee]

Norman beat a better and more proven fighter in Santillan than Boots ever has. Period. Maybe he felt like Hearn could pay more in order to give Boots a shot at a second title, and he knows the fight against Boots is the toughest fight at WW at the moment. Boots is not a star. He is apparently SRR in the gym, but when he stepped up to Karen and Villa he looked ok but got hit a lot, and the ghost of Avaneysan hit him a lot.

At this point I'd rather see Boots vs Staninois, Norman vs Barrios, or some variation of that, and the winners fight for undisputed. Boots and Norman look to both be better than the other beltholders, if Hearn was smart he would build some buzz around that kind of idea and the unification could be a major fight night.

But it's Hearn. He's a used car salesman.

[brettWall]

Would PBC/Haymon even offer Norman $1 million for the Barrios or Stanionis fight? I'd be curious to know the answer to this.