ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey – Eddie Hearn picked up negotiations with Brian Norman’s team early Sunday morning right where they left off last summer.

Jaron Ennis’ promoter believes Norman and his handlers need to be more reasonable than he feels they were when the two teams attempted to make a deal for Ennis and Norman to fight November 9 at Wells Fargo Center in Ennis’ hometown of Philadelphia. Bob Arum, Norman’s promoter, and Jolene Mizzone, Norman’s representative at Fighters First Management, have informed The Ring they are willing to bring the WBO welterweight champion to Philadelphia for their welterweight title unification fight if the numbers make sense.

The 27-year-old Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs, 1 NC) has more leverage because he owns The Ring, IBF and WBA 147-pound championships and is a proven ticket-seller both at Wells Fargo Center and Boardwalk Hall, where he stopped Eimantas Stanionis after six rounds Saturday night. Norman, 26, has something Ennis wants badly, however, which could make this round of negotiations contentious, too.

That’s why Hearn went on the offensive during Ennis’ post-fight press conference following his domination of Stanionis. The Matchroom Boxing chairman challenged Norman (27-0, 21 KOs, 1 NC) and WBC champ Mario Barrios (29-2, 18 KOs), the two fighters Ennis needs to beat to become undisputed welterweight champion, to prioritize legacy over money.

“Listen, you know, I heard that Barrios is talking about fighting Manny Pacquiao,” Hearn said. “I mean, what’s all that about? Right? Brian Norman, for me, I spoke to Bob Arum during the week. He made it clear they wanna try and make that fight. You know, there’s probably close to 10 times the biggest payday of Brian Norman’s career to fight Boots Ennis. If you don’t wanna get in the ring, you might as well retire from the sport.

“Because what’s it all about? That kinda payday to fight the very best in the sport and prove yourself as a pound-for-pound great. So, stop with Twitter, stop with Instagram. Grow a set of balls and come and be in one of the biggest fights in the sport. Wells Fargo, back end of the summer or September, whenever it’s gonna be, when [Ennis] is ready. Let’s make it happen.”

Norman, who resides and trains just outside of Atlanta, is The Ring’s third-ranked welterweight contender. Stanionis is ranked number two by the Ring, one spot beneath where Ennis was listed before his impressive victory Saturday night.

Ennis won The Ring welterweight title Terence Crawford vacated last year when the four-division champion moved up to compete in the junior middleweight division. Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), of Omaha, Nebraska, is expected to challenge Canelo Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) in a super middleweight showdown September 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas if Alvarez beats IBF champ William Scull (23-0, 9 KOs) on May 3 at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The hard-hitting Norman most recently stopped Puerto Rico’s Derrieck Cuevas (27-2-1, 19 KOs) in the third round March 29 at Fontainebleau’s BleuLive Theater in Las Vegas. He doesn’t have a mandatory obligation at the moment, which could free him up to face Ennis next.

Ennis and Hearn pointed out that the ascending star nicknamed “Boots” took less money than he could’ve earned to lure Lithuania’s Stanionis (15-1, 9 KOs, 1 NC) into the ring. They don’t want to make a similar sacrifice to secure fights with Norman and Barrios, but Ennis’ insistence on fully unifying the welterweight titles before he moves up to the junior middleweight division provides Barrios and Norman with additional leverage.

“That’s not what we do, or what we wanna do,” Hearn said of paying opponents what they believe is above market value. “But sometimes, as a team, you move forward collectively. And that’s why these guys are great to work with. They’re chasing greatness. But now, after a performance like that, no, we don’t take less money. We take more money. So, the other guys have got to – they’ll get paid – but they have to show some ambition.

“It’s just money, money, money, money. What about trying to be number one in the division? Guys like Brian Norman and these guys, with all due respect to Brian Norman, he just boxed for about $150,000 on an undercard of Mikaela Mayer against Sandy Ryan at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas. If we go back to the Wells Fargo now, to unify again, [Ennis] will fill the whole place – 18, 19,000, unquestionably. So, there’s money in the pot. But you’ve got to show ambition as well.”