Brian Norman Jr Bombs Out Jin Sasaki with a Frightful Left Hook

Heading in to his match with defending WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr, Jin Sasaki rated his chance of winning at 80 percent. Norman was more confident, rating his odds at a million percent.

In hindsight, Sasaki had no chance whatsoever against the 24-year-old Norman, boxing youngest male champion. Sasaki was on the deck twice in the opening round before Norman ended the contest 46 seconds into the fifth stanza, knocking Sasaki out cold with a frightful left hook. The punch knocked Sasaki flat on his back with his arms outstretched, hushing the crowd at Tokyo’s Ota-City General Gymnasium. Sasaki, 23, was awake when he was removed from the ring on a stretcher and taken to a hospital for observation.

Norman Jr, in his second defense of the title vacated by Terence Crawford, advanced to 28-0 (22 KOs). The Atlanta area product began his pro career at age 17 and had 12 of his first 13 fights in Mexico. He is trained by his father, a former super middleweight journeyman who once went 12 rounds with Jean Pascal in Montreal.

Norman’s devasting knockout of Sasaki (19-2-1) is already being hailed as the knockout of the year. But Norman, who hopes to fight again in October, will be a strong candidate for fighter of the year if he can deliver another “wow” performance before the year is out. He looked very sharp in his previous bout in March, blasting out Derrieck Cuevas in three rounds.

Number 1 on Norman’s hit list was Philadelphia’s undefeated Jaron “Boots” Ennis. However, Ennis has announced that he has outgrown the division, leaving the IBF and WBA titles vacant. The other belt-holder is Mario Barrios who defends his WBC diadem against 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on July 19.

Semi-Wind-Up

Thailand’s Thanongsak Simsri claimed the vacant IBF light flyweight (108-pound) title with a split decision over Cristian Araneta of the Philippines. The scores were 116-111 and 115-112 for the Thai with the dissenter scoring it 114-113 for Araneta.

Simsri, who improved to 39-1 (34) was a very slight favorite despite building his record against very soft opposition. Araneta (25-3) scored the bout’s lone knockdown but was outworked in a bout that was relatively tame. His previous losses came on the road in Mexico and South Africa.

Also

In a welterweight contest slated for 12, Yokohama’s Sora Tanaka improved to 4-0 (4 KOs) with a fourth-round stoppage of Takeru Kobara. The action-packed contest was halted at the 2:01 mark.

A third-generation prizefighter and former Japanese amateur champion, Tanaka is short for a welterweight at five-foot-five. He has patterned his style after Mike Tyson. Takeru (14-8-1) was never off his feet but took a lot of punishment. He had been stopped three times previously.

Photo credit: Naomi Fukuda

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