A welterweight crossroads bout has been added to a show loaded with featherweight action.
BoxingScene.com has learned that Brian Norman and Janelson Bocachica have agreed to terms for an intriguing matchup. Their welterweight fight will take place on March 2 as part of an ESPN+ streamed undercard from Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.
Norman (25-0, 19KOs) enjoyed a relatively active 2023 campaign with three fights after having sat out for all of 2022. All came after he signed with Top Rank, who will present the March 2 event.
The 23-year-old rising welterweight from Conyers, Georgia—who is managed by Fighters First Management, led by Jolene Mizzone—previously enjoyed a five-fight knockout streak before he went the distance in each of his past three starts. In his most recent outing, Norman outpointed Quinton Randall over ten awkward rounds last November 16 from T-Mobile Arena in June. The bout was his first since he underwent surgery for his right hand last June.
Bocachica enters on the heels of a three-fight winless streak. However, he was considered unlucky to not get the nod in his last outing.
The skilled 25-year-old boxer from Detroit was left stunned when Alberto Palmetta was the announced winner in their November 1 ProBox TV headliner from Plant City, Florida. Judges Dennis DeBon (97-93), Joanne Richard (96-94) and Tito Wilgo (96-94) all awarded the more aggressive Palmetta, though the majority of viewers seemed to favor Bocachica’s cleaner punching.
Once a red-hot prospect, Bocachica previously found himself on the opposite end of such a decision in a ten-round draw versus Paul Kroll. Their July 2021 ShoBox opener saw the three judges split in their scoring, though most believed that Philadelphia’s Kroll was the rightful winner of their bout between unbeaten welterweights.
Bocachica won his first seventeen bouts prior to that point. Two straight defeats followed that night, including a September 2022 eight-round unanimous decision to Roiman Villa in Atlantic City.
The main portion of the show will air live on ESPN and features a pair of featherweight title fights. IBF titlist Luis Alberto Lopez (29-2, 16KOs) defends versus mandatory challenger Reiya Abe (25-3-1, 10KOs), while Otabek Kholmatov (12-0, 11KOs) and Raymond Ford (14-0-1, 7KOs) collide for the vacant WBA belt.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox