Commenator Paulie Malignaggi doubts whether Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) will be able to get a unification fight next against WBO belt-holder Brian Norman Jr. after what he did to WBA champ Eimantas Stanionis (15-1, 9 KOs), knocking him out in the sixth round in a statement-level performed at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Promoter Hesitation
Ennis should start thinking about moving up to 154 if he knows what’s good for him. He’s not likely going to get the unification fights he wants at 147 without the Saudis swooping in and financing, which they probably won’t do. Other than that, Ennis could wind up waiting until he’s in his 30s before he finishes capturing the remaining titles.
While it may seem like a positive thing for Ennis and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, that he looked outstanding in victory against Stanionis tonight, the downside is that it could make things difficult for him getting a unification match against Norman Jr. and WBC champion Mario Barrios.
If you’re the promoter for those two champions, do you really want to let them fight Ennis after what you saw tonight? Other than for cash put purposes, they won’t want to let them anywhere near Ennis.
Norman Jr. would have to overrule his promoters at Top Rank if they drag their feet, and they likely will. Remember, these are the same promoters that created Edgar Berlanga’s 16-0 record with 16 first-round knockouts with weak matchmaking.
Norman Jr.’s Readiness
“I don’t know if Brian Norman is ready for those kinds of fights. Norman, being the youngest world champion, he has time to develop as a champion and as a big fighter. So, I don’t know if they’re going to be in a rush. They don’t need to be in a rush,” said Paulie Malignaggi to Fighthype about doubting that WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr’s team will be in a hurry to match him against unified champ Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis after watching what he did tonight against WBA belt-holder Eimantas Stanionis in Atlantic City.
Power-wise, Norman Jr. is more than ready to fight Ennis. He punches harder than him, and could knock him out if he lands often enough. It’s a bad match-up for Norman because he’s not technically skilled, and there would be the risk of him being outboxed the way Stanionis was tonight.
“I don’t know if Ennis goes to 154. We’ll see. You can probably unify with [WBC welterweight champion] Mario Barrios easily, and that’s probably an easy win there,” said Malignaggi. “t’s unfortunate that none of those welterweights wanted to fight him [Terence Crawford and Errol Spence]. So, he kind of had to wait for all of them to leave before he started dominating the division,” said Malignaggi.
