The pitter-patter of Brandun Lee's feet moving around the ring and the thudding punches that followed were the most audible sounds coming from an empty Grand Casino Hinckley in Hinckley, Minn., on Friday night.
Lee treated the "ShoBox" opportunity on Showtime like business as usual as he blasted Camilo Prieto for a third-round TKO. The super lightweight prospect overwhelmed Prieto with power shots, wobbling him with a thumping right hand and splitting his guard with a left uppercut, before unanswered rights forced the referee to stop the action at 2:34 into the round. Just like that, Lee had improved to 19-0 with 17 KOs.
.@Brandun_Lee unloads in round 3 to pick up the TKO win over Camilo Prieto 🔥🔥 #ShoBox pic.twitter.com/2C5hICJNw5
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) March 14, 2020
Lee's performance was anything but business as usual, however, because there weren't any fans at the venue — only accredited staff and personnel, including Showtime's announcing team. That made for a somewhat eerie, desolate experience.
The "ShoBox" card was practically the only sporting event that didn't get canceled or postponed because of coronavirus concerns, outside of WWE's "SmackDown Live," which also took place Friday night from the company's Performance Center in Orlando, Fla., without any fans in attendance.
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Top Rank first announced that its Saturday night fight card headlined by Shakur Stevenson would be without any fans inside New York's Madison Square Garden, but then it canceled the card. Top Rank did the same with the card that was to headlined by Michael Conlan on Tuesday.
Earlier in the week, the NBA set off a slew of major sports leagues suspending or postponing their seasons because of COVID-19 concerns. The NCAA canceled its men's and women's basketball tournaments.
If the "ShoBox" card Friday night offered a taste of boxing's new normal, then it's going to take some time getting used to this.
Brian Norman Jr. edges Flavio Rodriguez by technical unanimous decision; welterweights
It didn't matter to Norman that he was fighting in an empty venue. He still entered the ring to The Rock's WWE theme and flashed the wrestling legend's trademark raised eyebrow as the judges' scores were read. Norman dominated the action until an accidental head-butt opened a gash on Rodriguez's forehead in the seventh round and ended the bout. Judges scored it 69-64, 68-65 and 68-65, all in favor of Norman (17-0, 14 KOs).
Norman gets a technical UD win over Rodriguez after an accidental headbutt in round 7. #ShoBox pic.twitter.com/9EbvNmaGgB
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) March 14, 2020
