A great night of Top Rank boxing took place in Las Vegas yesterday evening. One of the featured bouts was the co-main event, with the WBO welterweight title on the line. Notably, Italy’s Guido Vianello was in attendance, a rising star under the American promotion, set for a crucial fight on April 5.
The WBO title fight featured Puerto Rican challenger Derrieck Cuevas, a second-generation boxer (both parents were fighters), who earned his first title shot after scoring four consecutive knockouts in his last four bouts.
In the opposite corner stood the champion, Brian Norman, trained by his father, undefeated, and making his first title defense.
The champion started with determination, seemingly eager to establish dominance in the ring, while the challenger remained unfazed and began his feeling-out phase.
Norman’s boxing was solid, built on jabs and body feints, setting up his powerful left hook. Cuevas fought on the counter, but timing was on the American’s side, despite the Puerto Rican trying to land well-placed shots that failed to cause significant damage.
In the second round, Norman, after a series of feints, landed a left hook following his ever-active jab, making Cuevas’ legs wobble. He followed up with a devastating right hook-left hook combination that forced Cuevas against the ropes. The challenger made it to the next round but was visibly shaken.
The third round followed the same pattern. Norman, growing in confidence after the second round, continued his flawless work with jabs and feints, while Cuevas kept struggling to find his target. Near the end of the round, another devastating left hook made Cuevas stumble again, and after yet another lightning-fast right hook-left hook combination, the Puerto Rican went down, and there was no coming back. His title challenge ended there.
A one-sided fight from the start, with Cuevas looking out of his depth on such a big stage. Meanwhile, Norman delivered an incredibly solid first title defense, cementing his place among the top five welterweights in the world and setting himself up for bigger fights with other major titles on the line.