Norman Jr. Threatens Ennis’ Undisputed Plans

IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis may need to reconsider his goal of collecting all the belts at 147 after the way WBO champ Brian Norman Jr. destroyed Derrieck Cuevas in three rounds last Saturday night in a Top Rank event at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, Las Vegas.

The Threat of Norman Jr.

That performance from the Georgia native Norman Jr. showed that ‘Boots’ Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) needs to think carefully about whether it’s worth it to take the risk of going after the undisputed championship.

Boots obviously wants to have a successful pro career and make a lot of money in the sport before he retires. If he faces the younger, stronger, and arguably more talented Brian Jr, it could end badly for him.

Defensively, Ennis is unsound and too vulnerable to fight a fighter with the kind of youth, power, and aggressiveness that Norman Jr. presents. Boots gets hit too much to fight a puncher like Brian Jr.

In Jaron’s last fight against Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9th, we saw that he was getting pieced up by a guy who isn’t considered a major puncher. However, that guy looked like a mini-Artur Beterbiev with how he picked Boots apart with power shots and embarrassed him in front of his Philadelphia fans at the Wells Fargo Center.

Division Shift

Many boxing fans believe Ennis chickened out when he was recently offered a career-high payday to challenge Vergil Ortiz Jr. for his WBC interim 154-lb title in the Riyadh Season event on February 22nd. If it was indeed a lack of courage that made Boots turn down the lucrative offer, we could see a similar situation when it comes to him choosing to stay at 147 to face Norman Jr. because he may be even more dangerous Vergil Jr.

Norman Jr hits harder than Ortiz Jr. with both hands, and he’s faster. Indeed, the shots that Brian Jr. hit Cuevas with last Saturday night would have done the same to Boots Ennis.

Norman Jr. (27-0, 21 KOs) showed huge power in his surgically repaired left hand, knocking out Cuevas in a statement fight. The left isn’t considered the 24-year-old Norman Jr’s power hand. His right is the seen as his primary weapon in his arsenal, but he showed against Cuevas that he possesses one-punch KO power in his left as well.