Dalton Smith’s historic upset at Barclays Center seems to have energized Eddie Hearn. Like his fighter, he’s in no mood to buckle as Oscar De La Hoya launches a fresh torrent of claims. Hearn and the former world champion turned promoter have been at loggerheads to finalize the fight between Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Jaron “Boots” Ennis. The latest round saw De La Hoya slam Hearn for chasing the fight.

While threatening legal action against Boots’ management, De la Hoya laid out his terms –  “60-40 for Vergil and 5% to the winner.” To Hearn, the offer is the complete opposite of what was ‘agreed.’ The battle of words follows a series of back-and-forths between the two camps. A surprising development even saw the common broadcaster DAZN pressing both sides to close the deal. Now, Hearn, while speaking to iFL TV at the dressing room in Barclays Center, where Smith vs. Matias took place, declared that he wants to make Boots vs. Ortiz. While he didn’t want to follow Oscar De La Hoya‘s approach and respond word-for-word, Hearn wanted to make a few things clear.

Eddie Hearn counters Oscar De La Hoya

“Oscar, Golden Boy, and those guys, they made us a written offer for Boots against Ortiz,” Hearn said. “55% for Ortiz and 45% for Jaron Ennis.” However, he felt the deal wasn’t fair to Boots. So he went back to the Golden Boy camp to renegotiate. His reasons were simple.

Boots Ennis moved to the 154-pound division last year and knocked out Uisma Lima, and a month later, Ortiz Jr. matched the feat, dropping former champion Erickson Lubin in the second round.

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Vergil Ortiz has never held a world title. Ennis, on the other hand, was a unified champion at the welterweight division before he moved to the light middleweight division. Besides, he remains a massive draw in traditional boxing places like Philadelphia. Ortiz Jr., on the other hand, is quite popular in Texas. So a 50-50 deal with a 5% bonus for the winner sounded like a more reasonable offer.

Eddie Hearn claimed the discussions took place in the presence of DAZN officials and De La Hoya and Golden Boy president Eric Gomez. He concluded, “We all agreed, and we left the room to make the deal…”

One might wonder why De La Hoya has come back with his latest demand of 60–40 in Ortiz’s favor. The Golden Boy head has his own explanations. According to De La Hoya, Ortiz has plenty of other options.

Boots vs. Ortiz: De La Hoya’s explanation

“Vergil can fight two or three different guys in mega fights. He’s got options. Imagine him with Errol Spence at Dallas Cowboy Stadium or Sebastian Fundora in a mega fight in Vegas,” he said on his video. He made it plain: for Vergil Ortiz Jr., a fight with Boots is merely a part of the plan; it need not be the next fight altogether.

The tug-of-war between Hearn and Oscar De La Hoya comes as DAZN is reportedly putting pressure on both camps to get the fight done. Considering how much fans want to see the two stars face off, all that’s left is for Hearn and De La Hoya to clear the hurdles to a history-making fight.