Brian Norman Jr. laughed when I asked him if he was going to put the gloves to the side and start training people full-time after he led his dad, 45-year-old Brian Sr., to a victory in a February bout against Greg Hackett.

“No, no, no,” said Norman Jr. “That was just a little one and done.”

The win came in dad’s first bout since a 2011 loss to Dominick Wade, and now that it’s over, it’s time for father and son to get back to their current roles as trainer and fighter, with Norman Jr. defending his WBO welterweight title this weekend in Las Vegas against Derreick Cuevas.

It’s the 24-year-old Norman’s first bout since winning the belt with a tenth-round stoppage of Giovani Santillan last May, and while the wait to return to the ring may have been an annoyance, it hasn’t deterred him.

“This is more of a lifestyle,” he said. “So just because I don't have a fight date or anything coming up, I was still in the gym training, still sparring, still making sure I'm on point, and still checking the man in the mirror for what I need to work on today. So, at all times, I'm always improving myself.”

The Georgia native’s progression as a prizefighter has had the expected ups and downs, but it peaked when he knocked out Santillan and showed off not just power, but grit, in moving to 26-0 with 20 knockouts.

“I believe that's just how I was raised with my pops,” said Norman. “I'm a very competitive person at heart, and actions speak louder than words. You can say what you want all day, but you’re not doing what you're supposed to do. You ain't putting your miles in, you're not putting the work in. Now let's say you are putting the work in, but you're just going through the motions; then you don't want it for real. You ain't intense enough. So that's why I really do pride myself on my work ethic and also my mind, as well. But with my work ethic and intensity, we’re fixing to go at it. We got 12 rounds and I’m fixing to train for 20. A lot of people simply don't have that in them. And when times get hard, they all fold, they all crumble. So even though you may be skillful, I'm going to keep on pressing that button and see how long you can take it. And also, I'm skillful, as well. So how long can you sit here and hold this so-called skill that you have and not mentally break and not mentally fold? Because I'm going to be coming the whole 12 rounds, if you can make it.”

Talk like that doesn’t just come from inside the heart of the young champion. That comes from a lot of film watching and a lot of self-education on the greats of the sport. When you talk to Norman, there’s a reverence and respect for those that came before him, and that’s refreshing. Pick one, though, and Norman can’t do it.

“There’s a whole lot of guys regarding that, so I can't really give you a very solid answer, but fresh off the dome, I can give you Marvin Hagler. I love James Toney, his coolness and calmness; I tried to steal that from him, as well. Floyd Mayweather, just everything about his work ethic and then just plain and simple, Roy Jones. Everything, athleticism, the way he carries himself, he is very confident. He goes in the ring like this is my ring. And there are a whole lot more fighters. Salvador Sanchez, that boy was bad. His work ethic, as well, and how calm and cool he was in the ring. He never breathed out his mouth one time when he was fighting. So I love studying the history of boxing because I know for a fact history will repeat itself.”

I mention that few, if any, of his 24-year-old peers would be mentioning Salvador Sanchez on their list of favorites

“You gotta study the history,” said Norman, and that means the good, the bad and the ugly. So he goes on to talk about Mike Tyson getting caught napping by Buster Douglas, Roberto Duran blowing up in weight between fights, and Hagler getting ignored by the boxing business for much too long.

“With Hagler, the main thing I took from him was his whole mentality, plain and simple,” he said. “He had to deal with the business of boxing early on in his career, he got robbed of winning the belt because how the boxing business is. So he said, ‘Okay, cool. That's how you want to play it, I ain't going to let y'all rob me of a win; I'm going to knock 'em out myself.’ And I take that same mentality to the ring now that if y'all put two men in the ring to handle it themselves, I don't need the judges. I can handle it myself right here. And I got 12 rounds to do it.”

The confidence in Norman is evident, and apparently growing with each sentence talking about the fighters he idolizes. He knows that he’s now in a position to get those big fights and have those big moments with the world watching. First, though, he has to successfully defend his title against Puerto Rico’s Cuevas.

“I just take everything day by day,” Norman said. “If you look too far in the future, you get lost and don't do the right thing today. So I made a quote that I live by for myself, which is, I think about today, but work for tomorrow. I think about what I need to do today and I'm going to put all that work in because I know tomorrow it will pay off. Then do the same thing and guess what? Over time you’re just getting 1% better, 1% better, 1% better, and then you just take over the whole world after that.”

It's clear that Norman is all-fighter, and he has a plan for his career that has little to do with accolades, but more with greatness. So to suggest that Norman ducked IBF champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis last year when offered a near $2-million dollar payday is ludicrous. And when asked if he is willing to chase Ennis to 154 pounds should the Philadelphian defeat WBA boss Eimantas Stanionis in their April 12 should, his answer is direct and without hesitation.

“First of all, I don't chase nobody because this is my life and this is my career, so I ain't chasing nobody,” said Norman. “I ain't a little punk or anything like that, so I don't need anybody but myself. So I'm going to go ahead and keep dropping these mixtapes, which is these knockouts, and then hope I can get a big fight like that and drop an album, which is, I'm knocking him out, as well.”

In other words, all in due time. All that matters now is Cuevas, and just like Hagler couldn’t look past John Mugabi to start thinking about a possible dream fight with Sugar Ray Leonard, Norman is fixated on what will take place at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas on Saturday.

“He (Mugabi) was 25-0 with 25 knockouts,” said Norman. “Just think about that. And then, at first, Hagler was trying to box him. He was doing his thing, but he kept getting caught. So he said, all right, how about this? We’re gonna see who’s the biggest dog of them all; I don't care about your 25 knockouts or anything like that. I am that man. He came and showed him that and he actually knocked the man out He had straight up dog. He just straight beat the will out of him.”

That’s worse than getting caught and finished. Norman agrees.

“It's an addicting feeling. My last fight, I could have stopped Giovani in, I believe, the ninth round, but I just had to look at him. It’s a defeated look that people have in their eyes. So I could have stopped him in the ninth, but I just started looking at him, hit him a little bit, playing around with him just to show him, yeah, this is me right here. Now, round 10, let me just go take you out the game and do my thing.”

For a nice, Southern gentleman, that’s quite the mean streak.

“Hey, I got that from Sugar Ray Leonard,” he laughs. “People see the smile, they see the flash that Sugar Ray Leonard had, But if you look in that man's eyes, boy, I see evil. When he was fighting, I seen evil.”

I tell him of an interview I did with Leonard, when he told me that when he saw blood, he was like a vampire. Norman’s eyes light up, perhaps hoping to be mentioned in the same sentence with the welterweight icon someday.

“That's why they say he's the best finisher of all time,” he said. “That boy was nasty.”

Brian Norman Jr. got a little nasty in him, too.