Brian Norman Jr. thought about what he was up against. It was to fight for the welterweight world title in the hostile hometown of up-and-coming undefeated fighter Giovani Santillan.
Norman (26-0, 20 KOs) was thinking of sticking to a boxing-heavy fight plan. He felt he could win that way, but Santillan would run the risk of being seen as aggressive by the judges, who might be swayed by the enthusiastic support of his fellow San Diego fans.
Or you could put out the fire with fire.
“We kept thinking that if we kept going, we were going to take advantage of the idea that we were running away from him and put more pressure on him,” Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KOs) told BoxingScene on Monday.
“So let's go to the fire zone. Let's see what kind of fight he can bring and how difficult it is. So I can attack hard and put pressure on him. ”
The strategy worked well for Norman's straight right, which cut Santillan, marked him up, and even staggered Santillan as ringside observers looked on in amazement.
“I kept seeing (openings) down the pipe, so I kept letting it go,” said Norman, whose cornermen yelled at a hushed Santillan (32-1) fan base inside Pechanga Sports Arena.
After the sixth round, Norman was scouting Santillan and noticed that he tended to tire late in the fight. Feeling that he had the upper hand on the scorecards and was maximizing his opponent's pressure, he said he felt Santillan's “last hoorah” and sent a heavier punch, saying, “I'm going to settle down with this.” It's supposed to be,'' he sent a message.
“I put him down because he wasn't calm,” Norman said.
Norman dropped Santillan early in the 10th round after he staggered Santillan badly and appeared to break his nose, and some say he may then be in contention with this year's knockout contender. He delivered a powerful right uppercut.
Santillan's nose bled and he collapsed to the canvas.
Interrupting his brutal approach, Norman knelt before his fallen enemy and gazed deeply into him. It was his reaction, he said, to the fact that he spent the night feeling like he was San Diego's public enemy number one.
“We worked strictly on that one shot the whole camp: a simple left hook, and boom!” Norman said. “I let it fly. I know if I land that shot cleanly, you're down.”
“The crowd really got me. I have nothing against Giovani. But I was in San Diego and everybody was booing me. I could still hear the yells of 'Gio!' even before the knockout. Gio! So I felt like I was the bad guy that night. I walked in and stared at him and the energy I was feeling from the crowd.”
With the win, Georgia's Norman becomes interim WBO welterweight champion and will be promoted to full champion after he fights reigning champion Terrence Crawford for the WBA junior middleweight belt on August 3 in Los Angeles. is what happened.
Predictions are that Crawford will defeat current WBA 154-pound champion Ayleil Madrimov and then relinquish the welterweight belt, making Norman the outright champion and one of only four world champions from Georgia. . Among that group are former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield and the late former two-division champion Vernon Forrest.
“I definitely feel like a champion,” Norman said.
Norman's manager, Jolene Mizzone, met with Norman's promoter, Top Rank, to discuss their relationship with the division, which also includes Jaron “Boots” Ennis (IBF), Eimantas Stanionis (WBA regular), and Mario Barrios. (WBC Interim) has recently been positioned as the other undisputed replacement champion for Crawford.
“We'll see what our options are,” Mizon said. “It's too early now.
“I want him to enjoy this. A 23-year-old kid invades someone's backyard and at the last minute that match becomes an interim championship. That's a lot of pressure, especially on that night. Proving many people wrong has proven to be the greatest revenge.
“He was focused from the first round to the 10th round and had a game plan.”
Norman said he lived his life with stacked odds.
“A lot of people doubted me. The odds were against me,” Norman said. “I like those times, because I had nothing to lose.”
