This past weekend was filled with exciting boxing matches of renown on March 29th, including two 147 lbs title bouts with Mikaela Mayer and Brian Norman Jr. successfully defending their WBO titles in the USA. In Mexico, William Zepeda triumphed over Tevin Farmer to retain his WBC lightweight title.
Brian Norman Jr. vs. Derrieck Cuevas
Set as the co-main event of this past Saturday’s Top Rank show, held on March 29th, American WBO welterweight (147 lbs) champion Brian Norman Jr. (27-0, 21 KO’s) netted an early technical knockout (TKO) victory over Puerto Rican opponent Derrieck Cuevas (27-2-1, 19 KO’s) to retain his unbeaten record. The fight featured Norman defending his WBO 147-pound title for the first time in a voluntary fight against Cuevas. The event was held at the BleauLive Theater [at Fontainebleau] in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It was an action-packed bout from start to finish. Brian Norman edged the 1st round though showed some defensive shortcomings as Cuevas’ respectable power and mentality made for a back-and-forth within the round that both fighters did not come unscathed from.
However, things changed in the 2nd round when in the closing seconds, following a round that Brian Norman Jr. did better in, Cuevas looked on the edge of being knocked down as Norman hurt him severely with his combinations.
With things looking downhill for Cuevas, a similar instance of Brian Norman Jr. dominating occurred before, again in the closing seconds, the American pummeled Cuevas brutally which eventually forced the referee to intercede ― culminating in Brian Norman Jr. being announced the winner by TKO.
Retaining his WBO title for the first time, it is unknown who Brian Norman will face next but given the completion of his voluntary title defense, the WBO will likely order him to engage in a mandatory title defense in the upcoming weeks. However, there might also be an opportunity to unify against any of the other three world champions in the 147-pound division; in particular perhaps the winner between IBF champion Jaron Ennis (33-0, 29 KO’s) and WBA champion Eimantas Stanionis (15-0, 9 KO’s) who are set to engage in a unification fight later in April.
Mikaela Mayer vs. Sandy Ryan
Headlining on the same Top Rank card, American women’s WBO welterweight champion Mikaela Mayer (21-2, 5 KO’s) and British Sandy Ryan (7-3-1, 3 KO’s) engaged in a notorious rematch that followed up their first match held last September ― which culminated in Mayer beating Ryan and earning the British fighter’s WBO title.
Though the first match was controversial as it ended in a majority decision (MD) that could have swung in Ryan’s favor, their rematch would put most doubts to rest as Mikaela Mayer went on to win the second bout by unanimous decision (UD).
Playing a large hand in Mayer’s victory was her work rate throughout the match and strategy to target Ryan’s body ― which clearly debilitated the latter at certain points throughout the fight. Further proving her resilience, a cut that Mikaela Mayer suffered during the bout did little to dissipate the American champion from netting a victory.
While Ryan did prove to be efficient throughout the bout, she faced difficulties convincing the judges of a win due to Mayer’s activity which swung things well in her favor following the 10-scheduled rounds. Despite this, Sandy Ryan performed admirably, with her jabs taking away much of whatever momentum Mayer was accumulating.
Mayer won through scorecards of 97-93 twice, and 98-92 ― scores that did not accurately reflect the close nature of the bout.
Following the match, Mikaela Mayer stated her intentions to face unified [WBA, WBC & IBF ] women’s welterweight champion Lauren Price (9-0, 2 KO’s), who hails from Wales, for an undisputed welterweight bout.
William Zepeda vs. Tevin Farmer
Fighting in Mexico, Mexican WBC interim lightweight (135 lbs) champion William Zepeda (33-0, 27 KO’s) engaged in a rematch with American contender Tevin Farmer (33-8-1, 8 KO’s) following their first bout held last November. With their first fight having caused some doubts as Zepeda eked out a split-decision (SD) victory that won him the WBC interim belt, their second match, held in the Poliforum Benito Juarez in Cancun, Mexico, was supposed to go widely in favor of Zepeda.
Zepeda again struggled against Farmer whose elusive style again caused issues for the Mexican fighter, but as with the Mayer-Ryan match Zepeda’s work rate proved to be the defining factor that contributed to him winning by majority decision.
Though far from an easy match, Zepeda took most of the rounds while Farmer failed to be as efficient as he did the previous match ― most prevalent through Farmer’s failure to connect his jab. When it came to activity, Farmer was simply outmatched and despite showing solid defense, his own offensive efforts lacked greatly and the American fighter’s landed shots were outweighed by Zepeda’s own.
Following 12 rounds, Zepeda was announced the winner by MD through scorecards of 116-112, 115-114 and 114-114. Out of all the scorecards, the 115-114 seemed the most accurate with Zepeda’s work rate largely earning him a well-deserved victory, though it was certainly hard won as Farmer’s defensive and counterattacking abilities were again on full display.
