WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. says he will finally know what it feels like to be a champ when he makes his first defense of his belt against Derrieck Cuevas this Saturday, March 29th, at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
(Credit: Mikey Williams/Top Rank)
Norman Jr.-Cuevas is the co-feature, but many fans see this fight as the true main event because there’s not much interest in the headliner between Sandy Ryan and Mikaela Mayer. Top Rank may have misjudged what fans are interested in when they put this card together.
Saturday’s Norman Jr. vs. Cuevas fight will be shown live on ESPN and ESPN+, starting at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT. One of the talents that stands out on the undercard is featherweight contender Bruce Carrington (14-0, 8 KOs) fighting Jose Enrique Vivas (23-3, 12 KOs) in a 10-round contest.
Carrington is trying to put himself in a position to challenge for a world title against one of the champions at 126. His fight with Vivas is a WBC title eliminator to become the mandatory for champion Stephen Fulton. If Carrington can get his hands on the WBC belt, it’ll improve his chances of fighting Naoya Inoue when he eventually moves up in weight.
Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KOs) gained momentum in his career following his tenth-round knockout win over Giovani Santillan on May 18th last year, but he has lost it due to the ten months that have elapsed since then without fighting.
“You’re not a real champion until you defend your title. And I’ve got a tough competitor ahead of me. I’m ready to prove myself,” said Brian Norman Jr. during today’s final press conference for his title defense against Derrieck Cuevas this Saturday night.
“It is a transition from targeting others to now being a target. So now it’s not about looking out anymore but more so about looking in at the man in the mirror and on what I need to work on. I now have nothing holding me back regarding injuries. I’m very well rested. I’ve got my mind together. I’ve got everything together. And now it’s just time to prove myself.”
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