Brian Norman Jr ventured to Tokyo, and ruthlessly defended his WBO welterweight title for the second time with a spectacular fifth-round knockout of Jin Sasaki at the Ota-City General Gymnasium on Thursday.
Norman Jr (28-0, 22 KOs) was upgraded to full WBO champion after a spell as interim holder, and he defended in some style in March, as he stopped Derrieck Cuevas in three rounds in Las Vegas. Sasaki (19-2-1, 17 KOs) went the championship distance for the first time in his most recent contest, clearly outscoring Shoki Sakai in Japan in January.
The American visitor made a swift start, with a counter left hand having Sasaki on the deck within the first 40 seconds, and on the resumption, he was down again, this time from a combination of punches.
The 23-year-old again survived, but was wild in his approach, with the second seeing the two open up and exchange towards the end of the frame.
Sasaki just couldn’t deal with the power of Norman, with several sledgehammer right hands having him beaten from pillar to post in the third, but the challenger beckoned ‘The Assassin’ on, and he obliged with more power punches.
Norman’s right hand was rarely missing, but it would be his left that closed the show in the fifth, as a huge punch flattened the home fighter on impact, and the fight was immediately waved off.
Norman had been hopeful of landing a unification with Jaron Ennis, but the IBF and WBA holder announced his move to super welterweight on Wednesday.
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Simsri crowned world champion
Thailand’s Thanongsak Simsri took the vacant IBF light flyweight title, as he claimed a split decision win against Cristian Araneta.
One judge scored Araneta (25-3, 20 KOs) a 114-113 winner, but scores of 116-111 and 115-112 saw Simsri (39-1, 34 KOs) declared the winner and the new champion.
CROWNED 🇹🇭🔥
Thanongsak Simsri gets it done by split decision. pic.twitter.com/aYsXJ7zxh4
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 19, 2025
Remaining Undercard
The vacant OPBF welterweight title was claimed by Sora Tanaka (4-0, 4 KOs), and he got the better of Takeru Kobata (14-8-1, 6 KOs), who was eventually worn down to a stoppage defeat in the fourth round of their contest set for 12.
Reiya Abe showed his experience, with the former world title challenger taking the vacant Japanese featherweight title with a points win over Yuya Oku (8-1-2, 5 KOs).
Abe (27-4-2, 10 KOs) was a winner by two scores of 96-94, and a third tally of 97-93.
ALL HEART 😤 Reiya Abe with his hand raised after 10 rounds. pic.twitter.com/nlJXWqqaYA
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 19, 2025
In eight-rounders, Ren Ohashi (4-0, 4 KOs) took a second-round stoppage win at featherweight against Guangheng Luan (13-9-2, 9 KOs), and super middleweight debutant Yuito Moriwaki (1-0) went the distance before taking a points win against Ha So Baek (3-2, 2 KOs).
In the sole four-rounder at lightweight, Seiya Yamaguchi (4-1, 2 KOs) won on the scorecards against Ryosuke Kiuchi (3-4-1, 2 KOs).
