Brian Norman Jnr’s knockout of Japan’s Jin Sasaki was very impressive.

Sasaki may not be a proven contender at a time when the welterweight division is short of them, but he’s aggressive and ambitious, and even if he was too open for Norman Jnr and therefore the underdog, the WBO champion was clinical in victory.

He produced a performance that earned the attention of those interested in his profession, and proved that he’s improving, and one of the more refined young champions out there in the world. He also won in Japan as the travelling fighter in unfamiliar, hostile territory, and passed the tests that that involved.

Until the victory over Giovani Santillan in May 2024 we were aware of his talent but wary of his inconsistency. Since then he’s been more convincing – he’s also beaten Derrieck Cuevas – and while he will encounter bigger tests than Sasaki, Santillan and Cuevas, he looks likelier than ever to pass those as well.

He’s a young, athletic, powerful fighter. If he can continue to learn and show an improving IQ he has considerable potential. He also requires more experience and, perhaps, maturity, but his growing consistency and personality suggests that that maturity may already be there. 

Top Rank, Norman Jnr’s promoters, are proven at turning talented fighters into stars. They understand how to turn a prospect into a contender and then a champion, and how to market them throughout that process.

At the moment he has to be considered the most exciting fighter in a welterweight landscape that might just be about to become much more appealing. Norman Jnr, Nicklaus Flaz and Brandun Lee – who so recently beat Elias Damian Araujo and looks on his way to 147lbs – are on course to consign Manny Pacquiao and Mario Barrios to the past and can combine for some entertaining fights.

Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney are other big names at 147lbs, but Garcia lost to “Rolly” Romero – who though inconsistent is an ambitious, committed fighter – and Haney continues to avoid young, hungry opponents of the highest level. Norman Jnr, Flaz and Lee are capable of overtaking them, too.

If Jaron “Boots” Ennis hadn’t just confirmed he plans to move to 154lbs he’d regardless still be considered the world’s best welterweight.

It is, however, tempting to wonder just how hungry he is. His progress was stalled on his way up, when we all knew how much potential he had but he wasn’t getting the opportunities his abilities deserve.

But possible fights against Vergil Ortiz Jnr and Teofimo Lopez have come to nothing – and while Ortiz Jnr was already at 154lbs when Ennis was at 147lbs, he holds a lot of physical advantages over Lopez, who’d have been his biggest-name opponent.

At 27 years old he’s reaching his physical prime, and there’s little question 147lbs was becoming a struggle for him and so it makes sense for him to move up. I certainly don’t believe that he’s dodging Norman Jnr. But his next moves at 154lbs – he might even end up at 160lbs – will therefore tell us a lot about him.

The junior-middleweight division is very different to welterweight. It lacks star power, but it has numerous dangerous fighters – Ortiz Jnr, Bakhram Murtazaliev, Serhii Bohachuk, Sebastian Fundora, Israil Madrimov, Xander Zayas and Tim Tszyu. Without knowing Ennis’ next move, Ortiz Jnr looks the likeliest star.

Fundora-Tszyu II, on July 19, is one of the many appealing match-ups that exists there. Tszyu was unfortunate to be cut in their first fight in 2024, when he looked on course to win, but since then Fundora’s grown in confidence and Tszyu’s been stopped by Murtazaliev before beating the lesser-known Joey Spencer. It’s difficult to judge how confident Tszyu is, and how much he’s recovered; Fundora not only has confidence, he has momentum. It’s a more interesting rematch today than it would have been if it was made immediately.