On Monday, news by the WBO was released that interim WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KOs) was elevated to “full” champion after Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) informed the sanctioning body that he would no longer compete at welterweight. This was somewhat expected after Crawford defeated Israil Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) in Los Angeles, CA, at the debut of Riyadh Season in the U.S.
Norman, from Decatur, GA, was the subject of an oddsmaker upset in May when he brutally stopped Giovanni Santillan (32-1, 17 KOs) in the tenth round of their fight. On that night, Norman won the interim WBO title and many insiders believed that he would later be elevated to full champion once Crawford had his first fight at junior middleweight. That moment was earlier today, and now Norman can go after some of the biggest fights available as a full champion.
One of those fights could be against WBO junior welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs), who was recently asked about that fight. When FightsATW caught up with Lopez, he shut down rumors of turning away a Norman fight in September and instead mentioned that he would prefer that fight to be in Los Angeles, CA, at a market he has yet to perform in. Lopez also mentioned that he wanted to wait for Norman to be elevated to full champion so that he could look to become a three-division world champion. Lopez is a “super” champion at 140, which means he can challenge the champion at other weight classes within the WBO as his next fight.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens next for Norman as he can go the Lopez route or unification fights against Jaron “Boots” Ennis, Mario Barrios, or Eimantas Stanionis. One thing is for sure: Norman’s next fight will be big and well-earned for the 23-year-old who goes by “The Assassin II.”
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