Brian Norman Jr vs Jin Sasaki - ESPN+

[crimsonfalcon07]

Ennis turned down Ortiz when he still thought he could become Undisputed; he fought Stanionis in a unification. Ortiz was supposedly in talks with Crawford/Fundora before Ennis was thrown into the mix. It's crystal clear that Undisputed is a fool's errand, especially if he's having trouble making 147. He has to deal with Norman/Barrios/Rolly, in addition to Giyasov who's waiting for his opportunity.

I'm not going to complain about Ennis moving up when it's what we've all been saying he should do. I've been saying I want Ennis to go after Lubin/Murtazaliev while Ortiz goes after Fundora. You know what fans will say if Ennis looks like shxt at 147? HE SHOULD'VE MOVED UP!

Depends on who he fights. What if it's someone like Charles Conwell, Liam Walsh, or maybe Conor Benn or Keith Thurman. Or maybe someone without even that much name recognition? Is that going to be a better fight that proves more than fighting Norman? Barrios is fighting Pacquiao, and if Barrios wins, he's still the weakest champion, while if Pacquiao wins, he'll either vacate and Ennis may be able to petition for a shot, or he'll get overconfident and want a shot at undisputed vs the winner of Ennis/Norman. You gonna be happy if he moves up and languishes as a contender for the next couple years "acclimating to the weight" and then goes for titles after Crawford retires, Ortiz and Murtazaliev lose or move up, etc? We don't know who he's going to fight, and just being in the division doesn't mean anything.

What does mean something is that he turned down a contract vs Ortiz, just as he's turned down contracts vs Crawford in the past, ostensibly to chase undisputed, and now he's "not interested in that any more." It was such an important dream that he turned down a huge contract vs Ortiz that would have put him in immediate title contention at 154, and now that Norman doesn't have a fight lined up and Ortiz isn't available, and there's a line for the other belts, now he wants to move up? Let's see who he fights next. It had better not be someone lesser than Norman, is all I'm saying.