LAS VEGAS – It was well worth the wait for Brian Norman Jnr.

The unbeaten WBO welterweight titlist ended a 10-month ring absence in style, as he stopped Derrieck Cuevas in the third round. Cuevas was floored and unable to respond to the commands of referee Thomas Taylor, which prompted a stoppage at 2:59 of Round 3 in their ESPN-televised co-feature Saturday evening at Fontainebleau Las Vegas.

Cuevas hadn’t fought since December 2023. The extended layoff was due in part to the postponement of this fight from November 8, a date from which Norman – a 24-year-old titlist from the greater Atlanta area – was forced to withdraw after suffering a hand injury. Cuevas opted to wait for the title shot in lieu of a tune-up.

Norman honored his agreed-upon voluntary title defense, which came 10 months after his highlight-reel knockout of Giovanni Santillan last May to win the interim WBO title.

“I felt wonderful. I came in with a little bit of ring rust, but you saw I shook that off real quick,” said Norman.“It was simple, just getting back into it. I’ve been off for 10 months, so it was just getting back in the field, being back in front of everybody. 

“As you can see, it wasn’t a struggle at all.”

That wasn’t entirely true.

Cuevas came out strong in the opening round, as he needed to due to the lack of respect he gave to Norman in the pre-fight buildup. The left hook was the weapon of choice for the first-time title challenger from Puerto Rico. Norman never threatened to go down but was clearly bothered by the shots upstairs, as well as a right hand over the top later in the round.

An adjustment was made by the defending titlist in the second. Cuevas tried to force the action but left himself open long enough to catch a left hook on the chin. The shot briefly stunned him and was followed by a power jab.

That same weapon would come back around as the final punch of the fight. 

Cuevas’ confidence quickly waned, as he was more concerned with not getting caught than trying to match his opening round aggression. Norman fed off that and, through controlled aggression, enjoyed an early night at the office. 

A left hook left Cuevas reeling inside the final 30 seconds of the round. Norman slammed home a right hand and power jab to deposit Cuevas onto the canvas. 

Cuevas, now 27-2-1 (19 KOs), made the mistake of paying more attention to his corner than to the referee, which led to the end of the night. His first bid at a title fight ended his four-fight win streak.

Meanwhile, the sky’s the limit for Norman in a division in need of a definitive leader. 

“Like I said, it’s the Brian Norman show. Imma show out, you better come and see me,” insisted the defending titleholder. “My hands are on the money, man. Like I said, everything was perfect coming into tonight. It was nothing.”

“I don’t care who you ever fought in the past. If you ain’t ever fought B Norman, the Assassin, you ain’t ever fought nobody.”

The hope now is for the rest of the division to fight this “somebody.”

Norman was previously in talks last summer to face IBF welterweight titlist Jaron “Boots” Ennis, 33-0 (29 KOs). It ended with Ennis instead honoring his mandatory, and Boots is now scheduled to face WBA titleholder Eimantas Stanionis, 15-0 (9 KOs), on April 12 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 

It’s safe to say that Norman is keeping his schedule wide open. 

“I’m right here. After y’all fight, I’m still in the welterweight division, I got a belt as well,” stated Norman. “You see it on my shoulder. You see what I just did with [Cuevas]… I can do y’all the same exact way.” 

Norman-Cuevas served as the co-feature to the Mikaela Mayer-Sandy Ryan WBO women’s welterweight title fight rematch.