LAS VEGAS – Brian Norman Jr. asked Derrick Cuevas on Thursday what would happen if Cuevas couldn’t take his power.

Now we know.

The hard-hitting Norman knocked the dangerous Cuevas to the canvas late in the third round and stopped him to retain his WBO welterweight title at Fontainebleau’s BleuLive Theater. Cuevas answered referee Thomas Taylor’s count in time, but Taylor halted the action with one second to go in the third round because Cuevas didn’t appropriately respond to his commands.

“I felt wonderful,” Norman told ESPN’s Mark Kriegel. “I came in with a little bit of ring rust, but you saw I shook that off real quick.”

Norman and Cuevas traded hard punches for almost all three rounds of a co-feature ESPN broadcast before the Mikaela Mayer-Sandy Ryan rematch.

Norman (27-0, 23 KOs, 1 NC) made his first defense of the WBO welterweight title when he knocked out Giovani Santillan in the 10th round last May 18 at Pechanga Arena in San Diego. The Conyers, Georgia resident was supposed to face Cuevas on November 8 at Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia, but he underwent a second surgery on his left hand.

Puerto Rico’s Cuevas (27-2-1, 19 KOs) won each of his four previous bouts by knockout. He couldn’t extend his streak, despite that he got Norman’s attention with several of his punches.

“It was simple, just getting back into it,” Norman said. “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. Great opponent, never been stopped and only one defeat. You see what I did with him. Never been down, never been down. Look what I did.”

A left hook by Norman knocked Cuevas off balance with 10 seconds to go in the third round. Norman nailed Cuevas with another left hand that knocked him to the canvas, in a neutral corner, with five seconds remaining in the third round.

Cuevas couldn’t overcome that trouble and lost by knockout for the first time in 30 professional fights.

Norman nailed Cuevas with a left hook with 30 seconds to go in the second round. Another left hook by Norman knocked Cuevas backward, into the ropes, with 25 seconds on the clock in the second round.

Norman tried to finish off a vulnerable Cuevas at that point. Cuevas countered enough to keep Norman from capitalizing on hurting him.

Cuevas landed a left hand that made Norman reset his feet barely 15 seconds into the opening round. Norman wasn’t hurt by that shot, but the left Cuevas landed to Norman’s body later in the first round and the left hook up top with which Cuevas quickly followed up made Norman take an awkward step.

The remainder of the first round was competitive, but Cuevas made Norman respect him early in their fight.