LONDON — Adam Booth slammed promoter Eddie Hearn for making a "derisory" offer for Josh Kelly to fight Jaron “Boots” Ennis in his hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 11.

The unbeaten Ennis recently vacated his Ring, IBF and WBA welterweight belts to move up to junior middleweight in a bid to become a two-weight world champion. His Matchroom promoters are working on his first opponent in the new weight class and Hearn revealed early this week that they have made an offer to Sunderland’s Kelly (17-1-1, 9 KOs).

The 31-year-old “Pretty Boy” is No. 3 in the WBO 154-pound rankings. The WBO immediately installed Ennis at No. 4, so a fight between the two would likely be deemed a suitable final eliminator.

But Booth, who is Kelly’s longtime manager and trainer, has dismissed Matchroom’s opening bid. He accused Hearn of attempting to use the media to pressure them into taking a difficult fight for short money.

“I spoke to Eddie’s lawyer less than 24 hours ago,” Booth told The Ring on Tuesday. “The date was October 11 in Philadelphia for a fight purse that Eddie knows is derisory low. It’s less than half of what Josh has been paid for a 10-round bout and Eddie knows that. The fact he’s gone straight to the media instead of speaking to me … every fight I’ve made with Eddie over the years I’ve spoken to him directly, but I haven’t heard from him directly.

“I was told they needed an answer within 24 hours because they had other options. I put the phone down and less than an hour later I see it popping up all over social media. I thought ‘OK, Eddie is using the old tried and tested route of using the media to negotiate and pressure somebody into taking a fight for money that he knows isn’t the right money.’”

Kelly is on a seven-fight winning streak since the British contender’s 2021 defeat to David Avanesyan at welterweight. His last outing was a two-minute blowout against Flavius Biea at Newcastle Arena on June 6, which was his first fight of 2025.

Now Booth is attempting to secure a far bigger fight for Kelly and believes Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs, 1 NC) would represent a suitable opponent for it — but only at the right price.

“We wanted the big domestic fight last year and that didn’t come off,” Booth said. “Josh has been world-ranked now for a long time and in the top five for a long time. It’s literally a question of trying to get a world title fight, a final eliminator, a big name fight to break through onto the world stage.”

On Ennis specifically, he added: “We want that fight. We want all of them. Josh won’t now hide from anyone, but if Eddie is serious about making that fight then he has to speak to me and make a serious offer. Josh will fight anyone, just make the right offer.

“If you don’t want to take a fight you outprice yourself and if you don’t really want to make a fight you make a low-ball offer. You make an offer you know isn’t enough. If you have other options, don’t put pressure on me. There are still more than 10 weeks until the date you mentioned. If there’s not enough time to have a proper conversation, then so be it. But we are here and Josh wants that fight.”