The welterweight division is waiting for a dominant world champion to emerge, and Brian Norman wants to be the man to fill that void.
Unbeaten champions Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis will fight for the IBF and WBA titles next month, Mario Barrios holds the WBC belt and Norman will put the WBO championship on the line when he fights Derrieck Cuevas in Las Vegas.
Norman, who is undefeated himself in 26 pro fights, boxes Cuevas on the undercard of the Mikaela Mayer vs Sandy Ryan rematch, live on Sky Sports Action from midnight on Sunday morning.
“You will be entertained. Don’t go to the bathroom, the refrigerator, don’t check your mailbox, you better tune into the TV, because you will see something amazing,” Norman told Sky Sports.
“I believe he is the perfect opponent. He’s coming to bring it as well. So our styles will clash wonderfully together. It’s going to be a head to head fight and somebody’s going to sleep. And I’m not that tired myself.”
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Norman is coming off an impressive knockout victory over Giovani Santillan. He is convinced that he should be considered the best in the division.
With that win over Santillan, he said: “I’ve got the best resume in the welterweight division right now. Nobody else has that calibre of opponent as their win.
“I believe in the work that I put in, I believe in the time I put in and I just feel like I’m going to run through everybody.”
Historically, the welterweight division has produced some of the finest fighters in the whole sport. In recent years welterweight champions Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford have been regarded as the best boxers in the world pound-for-pound.
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Mayweather and Pacquiao are of course long retired and last year the brilliant Terence Crawford moved up to super-welter.
Norman wants to be the next great welterweight champion.
“We take it day by day but I know for a fact myself I will be a legend in the game. I will be one of those Hall of Famers,” he said. “As the years go on, you will see that resume stack up.
“The old generation just left, the last ones being Terence Crawford and Errol Spence. So right now it’s just new and not as big just yet. As you’ve seen we’ve got stars coming in, ‘Boots’ – everyone saying he’s the biggest one. I’ll let them have that. [Like] Marvin Hagler I’ve got to come in and change the whole game.
“I feel like 147lbs is starting to warm up to those standards that everyone is looking for.”
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Inspired by father’s ring return
His father, Brian Norman Sr, is his trainer. Unusually last month Norman Sr had his first professional boxing bout in 14 years.
It’s an example that has inspired the WBO world titlist.
“I don’t want to see him get hurt so there was a lot of things going into it, but as we started training I’ve seen where I get my attitude from, I’ve seen where I get my work ethic from,” he said. “So I had all the confidence in the world going into that fight.
“I can take over the world if he can come back after 14 years and fight an active fighter and he beat him. So why can’t I do the same with these guys?”
Watch the Mikaela Mayer vs Sandy Ryan rematch live on Sky Sports Action from midnight on Sunday morning. Stream with NOW.
