Brian Norman Jr. wants a unification fight against WBC interim champ Mario Barrios next following his tenth-round knockout win over Giovanni Santillan last Saturday night in San Diego, California.
Title Upgrades on the Horizon
Norman Jr. (26-0, 23 KOs) claimed the vacant WBO interim welterweight title with his two-knockdown win over Santillan (32-1, 17 KOs), and that belt is going to be upgraded soon to the full WBO 147-lb title once Terence Crawford vacates.
Norman Jr., 23, credits Crawford for helping him during their sparring work, and he used the things he learned to defeat the previously unbeaten Santillan last weekend in their fight at the Pechanga Arena.
The Golden Boy-promoted Mario Barrios (29-2, 18 KOs) will likely be upgraded to full WBC 147-lb champion soon when Crawford vacates or is stripped.
It’s unclear whether Barrios’ management will want to face the hard-hitting Norman Jr. because it would be a risky fight for them and not worth a lot of money.
If Barrios is counting on holding onto his WBC title, waiting for Devin Haney to move up, or taking a big money offer from Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn for a unification fight against IBF champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, he might not be interested in fighting Norman.
Norman Jr.’s Call for a Unification Bout
“I would like to get Mario Barrios. I think he just won some interim belt. When Crawford vacates, I’m coming over there. I want Barrios,” said Brian Norman Jr. to the media about wanting to fight WBC interim welterweight champion Mario Barrios next following his tenth round knockout win over Giovanni Santillan last Saturday night to claim the WBO interim 147-lb belt on ESPN.
“I know he’s a workhorse, but he’s got to push himself,” said Norman about Santillan. “I noticed every time in round six, he starts falling back. In the beginning, I was trying to feel him out and get my timing down. It’s a mental thing. No matter what, round six, he starts to slow down.
“That’s why I was talking to him. ‘You ain’t got nothing. You can’t push me back.’ In the [Alexis] Rocha fight, he just straight caught Rocha. So, I had to give a little fight back and let him know, ‘I’m a man like you. I’m more of a man than you.’ I just kept pushing him. Right hand down the pipe, and he couldn’t do nothing about it.
“I was hitting him with everything and he just kept on coming. He was leaking real bad. I was talking to him then. ‘Come on.’ He just said, ‘Come on, mother f****,’” said Norman about Santillan.
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