The timing could not have been better for Brian Norman Jnr to deliver this performance.
A pair of opening-round knockdowns set the tone for his eventual fifth-round knockout of Tokyo’s Jin Sasaki. The visiting WBO welterweight titlist ended the fight with a monster left hook to put Sasaki down and out at 0:46 of the fifth round on Thursday from Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.
“That was a very fun fight,” Norman Jnr told ESPN after his second successful title defense. “Jin Sasaki came to fight. I got nothing but respect for him. I can’t wait to come back here.”
Norman, 28-0 (22 KOs), delivered a knockout-of-the-year contender less than 24 hours after Jaron “Boots” Ennis, 34-0 (31KOs), announced that he is done at welterweight and moving up to junior middleweight. The move by Ennis leaves a vacancy not just with the WBA and IBF titles but at the top of the welterweight division. That void may have already been filled.
Norman Jnr did not waste any time in his first fight outside of North America.
The unbeaten 24 year old from greater Atlanta, Georgia sent Sasaki to the canvas barely 30 seconds into the contest, courtesy of a left hook to the temple. Sasaki beat the count but was back on the deck less than a minute later after he was clipped by another left.
Norman Jnr remained composed, even as Sasaki, 23, launched a series of left hooks in the final minute of the round. The Top Rank-promoted titlist was confident that a knockout was on the way but he wouldn’t waste any punches to get to that moment.
“Just go out there, have fun and be myself,” Norman Jnr said afterward of his gameplan. “I’m a very diverse fighter, I can brawl if you want to; I can box if you want to.
“There’s still more to show y’all. I’m working on a lot of things.”
Sasaki was quickly reduced to false bravado in his first career title fight. He spent most of the third round egging on the defending titlist. Norman Jnr refused to bite and continued to score with left hooks as well as flush right hands around Sasaki’s high guard.
Norman Jnr continued the one-sided attack in the fourth before he emphatically closed the show one round later. Sasaki was drawn in and clipped with a vicious left hook to put him flat on his back. No count was necessary because the referee Gustavo Tomas waved off the contest and immediately signaled for medical attention.
Sasaki, 19-2-1 (17 KOs), was down for several minutes but responsive during his in-ring examination. The spirited challenger was in good spirits, all things considered, given he was taken out of the ring on a stretcher.
Norman Jnr, 28-0 (22 KOs), retained his WBO 147lbs title with his second knockout victory in less than three months.
He ended an extended ring absence with a third-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Derrieck Cuevas in March in Las Vegas, Nevada. That came more than 10 months after his highlight reel, 10th-round knockout of Giovanni Santillan in May 2024 to claim the interim WBO 147lbs title.
Norman Jnr was upgraded to full titlist in the summer of 2024, once Terence “Bud” Crawford, 41-0 (31 KOs), severed ties with the division after he claimed the WBA junior-middleweight title. There was an extended period where it was hoped that Norman Jnr and Ennis would meet in an IBF and WBO unification bout, but Norman Jnr’s team felt that even a career-best offer of a seven-figure payday was below the fight’s market value.
It regardless mattered little, because a hand injury kept Norman Jnr out of the ring for the rest of 2024. Ennis defended his IBF belt in a repeat win over Karen Chukhadzhian in November and then claimed the WBA belt in a one-sided, sixth-round stoppage of the then-unbeaten Eimantas Stanionis.
The career-best victory over Stanionis came in April, just two weeks after Norman Jnr’s first title defense. The likelihood of a three-belt unification bout remained minimal, however. Norman Jnr’s team was contacted by Matchroom, Ennis’ promoter, though after he’d already committed to his title defense versus Sasaki. Matchroom wanted Norman Jnr to commit to a fight with Ennis before he got through Sasaki, which Norman Jnr and his team took as public grandstanding. Ennis’ departure from the division – a physical necessity – would support that theory.
“I wish I had a certain fight coming up,” he said of the attractive match-up. “They heard the B. Norm storm was coming in. You know what happens when the storm is coming. They grabbed their ‘Boots’ and ran.
“So, we shall see what’s next for me. Hopefully, we can get back in October or November.”