You didn't answer the question. What relevance does asking for a counter offer have when determining whether an offer is being made to generate publicity?
It's pretty axiomatic. Asking for a counter-offer demonstrates real intent to make the fight. It's also worth pointing out that Warren and Saunders made their offer back in June and it only really became public knowledge in July when they received no counter-offer and then spoke to the media to let people know the offer had been made. All of the signs suggest that this was not a publicity stunt and a genuine attempt to make a fight but because it came from Warren you were dismissive, probably without doing all the fact-checking.