WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. (27-0, 21 KOs) stole the spotlight from the main event fight by destroying his opponent Derrieck Cuevas (27-2-1, 19 KOs) in three rounds at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, Las Vegas.
In the opening round, Cuevas and Norman Jr. both landed some huge shots. Brian Jr. focused on throwing stabbing jabs to the body and right hands. In the second round, Norman had Cuevas looking hurt when he connected with a left hook. Cuevas stayed calm and looked like he was enjoying the fight
Norman’s Power
Norman clipped Cuevas with a left in the third round. The shot was the kind that is nearly impossible to recover from.
A few seconds later, Brian landed another left that put Cuevas down. He got back up but made it clear to the referee that he didn’t wish to continue. The contest was then halted. The time of the stoppage was at 2:59 of the third.
It looked like Cuevas could have continued fighting, but he may have realized that he wasn’t going to make it out of the round. Norman Jr. was throwing too hard, and he couldn’t block his left hook.
The Top Rank-promoted Norman Jr’s fight was the true main event on tonight’s card. He showed why he’s considered to be a serious threat to IBF welterweight champion Jaron Ennis with the way he took apart Cuevas.
“I feel wonderful. I had a little ring rust to start off, but you saw that I shook that off real quick,” said Norman Jr. after the fight. “I was just getting back into it. I was out for 10 months. So, it was just about getting back into the field and being in front of everybody. As you saw, it wasn’t a struggle at all. Great opponent. Only has one defeat. And you saw what I did to him.”
“I want one of these belts. I see them out here trying to make unification fights. Where’s my little piece at?”
Norman Jr. said he wants to fight the winner of the unification fight between IBF welterweight champion Jaron Ennis and WBA champ Eimantas Stanionis. Those two are fighting on April 12th.
