WBO welterweight titleholder Brian Norman can’t seem to extricate himself from conversations about Jaron “Boots” Ennis.
, Norman fielded questions about his June 19 bout with Jin Sasaki, but also plenty on Ennis, who .
Ennis and Norman negotiated to fight in late 2024, but Norman felt his purse should have been higher and Matchroom wouldn’t meet his desired figure, so the fight fell apart. Norman has taken plenty of criticism for not taking the fight with open arms, given that he would have earned the biggest purse of his career for facing Ennis.
“I wish him the best at 154,” Norman said of Ennis, whose win over Eimantas Stanionis in April made him the unified IBF, WBA and Ring Magazine champion. “I don’t see [the failed fight] as a missed opportunity. Eventually, I’m pretty sure I may move up to 154 and start making noise up there. If he keep doing his thing at 154, we can still make that fight happen.”
Norman couldn’t resist a couple jabs at Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, however, whose announcement about Ennis moving to 154 came the week before Norman’s fight, and who suggested that Norman ducked the fight with Ennis.
Norman, 24, boasts a record of 27-0 (21 KOs) that glows on paper. But the welterweight division is thin, and Norman is yet to test himself against the best fighters in it, so his ceiling is difficult to ascertain.
Perhaps a fight with Japan’s Sasaki, 19-1-1 (17 KOs), will help with that. Sasaki lost to the still-undefeated Andy Hiraoka via vicious 11th-round TKO in 2021. He drew with Kotaro Sekine in a 2022 six-round match. Since then, Sasaki has won seven straight, six by stoppage.
The fight will take place in the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo. Norman, who fancies himself a road warrior, said he was acclimated to the time change in Japan shortly after arriving and loves the country.
“I don’t really care where I fight at, it’s still a boxing ring,” he said.
Norman said he’d love to return to Japan in the future, even to fight Hiraoka, who has won 10 consecutive fights inside the distance and is squarely in his prime – though Hiraoka is currently fighting at 140lbs. And if the bout with Sasaki gets complicated? Norman’s not concerned.
“When times get hard, for some reason, I love it,” he said.