Brian Norman Jr.’s management team understands why Jaron Ennis’ promoter proposed that he sign a contract recently for them to fight in October.

Norman’s handlers also hope people realize why, with an optional title defense scheduled for June 19 in Tokyo, Japan, they turned it down. Primarily, they want Norman to fully focus on defeating Jin Sasaki before finalizing a deal for his following fight.

Eddie Hearn, Ennis’ promoter, has condemned Norman’s team again for not accepting a few weeks ago what would’ve been a career-high purse for a welterweight title unification fight. Jolene Mizzone, one of Norman’s representatives with Fighters First Management, explained to The Ring why she disagrees with Hearn’s stance on completing contracts before Norman (27-0, 21 KOs, 1 NC) faces Sasaki (19-1-1, 17 KOs) at Ota-City General Gymnasium in a main event ESPN+ will stream.

“What people don’t understand is that a fight like this, when you have two champions, there is a lot to be negotiated in a contract,” Mizzone said. “It’s not just a standard contract, like a state contract. We treat our fighters as partners, so they are very involved when we negotiate because we want them to know what’s going on. And we feel like having those conversations with Brian, when he has to focus on the fight in front of him, is a disservice to him.”

Hearn, Matchroom Boxing’s chairman, dealt directly with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., Norman’s promoter, regarding contracts for a championship unification clash in the fall. Mizzone and her Fighters First partner, Adrian Clark, made it clear to Top Rank that Norman wants to fight Ennis next, but that it would be unwise to look too far ahead.

“Our response to them was, we are interested in the fight,” Mizzone said, “but we would not agree to sign a contract or negotiate until after Brian fights. It’s just like when Boots [Ennis] just fought and didn’t want to talk about anyone else except for [Eimantas] Stanionis, let alone sign a contract for another fight.

“Adrian even reached out to Eddie Hearn directly, but he didn’t get a response. [Adrian] wanted to make it very clear we are interested in the fight, but Eddie Hearn likes his own narrative better than the truth.”

Ennis, 27, has consistently stated his goal is to fully unify boxing’s welterweight titles before he moves up to the junior middleweight division. Norman, 24, of Conyers, Georgia, is The Ring’s No. 1 contender for Ennis’ championship.

If he were to beat Norman or Sasaki next, Ennis would still need to defeat the winner of a July 19 bout in which WBC champ Mario Barrios (29-2-1, 18 KOs) will face Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs) to complete his mission.

Any deal for Philadelphia’s Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs, 1 NC), who owns The Ring, IBF and WBA belts, to fight Norman next would’ve been contingent on him retaining his title next month. Mizzone, a former matchmaker for promoter Main Events, has nevertheless seen too many instances in the recent and distant past when planning too far ahead backfired on fighters, managers and promoters.

Said Mizzone: “Ask Ryan Garcia, Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury, to name a few, how it went in their fights when they negotiated another fight before the one in front of them.”