Jaron Ennis’ exit from the welterweight division didn’t diminish Brian Norman Jr.’s desire to fully unify boxing’s 147-pound titles.

As much as Norman wanted to prove himself versus Ennis, the unbeaten WBO welterweight champion won’t lament what could’ve happened had they fought. Ennis will give up The Ring, IBF and WBA belts now that he will compete at junior middleweight.

Norman (28-0, 22 KOs, 1 NC) informed The Ring following his vicious fifth-round knockout of Jin Sasaki (19-2-1, 17 KOs) on Thursday night in Tokyo, Japan, that he wants to face the Mario Barrios-Manny Pacquiao winner next. Barrios (29-2-1, 18 KOs), of San Antonio, Texas, is scheduled to defend his WBC welterweight title against the Philippines’ Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs) on July 19 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

“I still want all the belts,” Norman said. “The main belt I want ... is the WBC. That’s the one I want the most, but you’ve gotta have all the belts to be the truth, so I gotta have all the belts.”

Most sportsbooks have established Barrios as a 4-1 favorite over Pacquiao, who is 46 and hasn’t boxed in a sanctioned fight since August 2021. Pacquiao announced his retirement in September 2021, a month after Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas upset him by unanimous decision at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“Whoever wins, Mario Barrios or the great Manny Pacquiao, the WBC belt is mine,” Norman said. “So, whoever wins that, shout out to him. But you got a young gun in the game. Let’s make it happen.”

If Norman were to beat Barrios or Pacquiao, the ascending knockout artist would still need to add the IBF and WBA titles Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs, 1 NC) will give up to become the division’s second undisputed 147-pound champion of the four-belt era. It is unclear which highly ranked boxers will fight for those championships.

Uzbekistan’s Shakhram Giyasaov (17-0, 10 KOs) is the WBA’s No. 1 contender and was its mandatory challenger for Ennis’ “super” championship. Former undisputed lightweight champ Devin Haney (32-0, 15 KOs, 1 NC) is the WBA’s No. 2 contender in the 147-pound division, but Rolly Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) holds the WBA’s secondary welterweight title he won when he upset Ryan Garcia (24-2, 20 KOs, 1 NC) by unanimous decision May 2 on The Ring’s “FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves” card at Times Square in New York.

Lewis Crocker (21-0, 11 KOs) is ranked No. 1 among the IBF’s top 15 contenders and could be headed for an immediate rematch with third-rated Paddy Donovan (14-1, 11 KOs).

Northern Ireland’s Crocker trailed on all three scorecards when Ireland’s Donovan was disqualified following the eighth round of their March 1 bout in Belfast. He dropped Crocker with a right hook that landed after the bell. Donovan already had points deducted by referee Marcus McDonnell for intentionally using his head in the sixth and eighth rounds.

The No. 2 position in the IBF’s welterweight rankings is unoccupied, which makes Crocker and Donovan its two highest-ranked contenders.