Atlanta’s 24-year-old phenom Brian Norman Jr. will fly nearly 7,000 miles to Tokyo’s Ota City General Gymnasium on June 19, risking his status as boxing’s youngest male world champion against hometown knockout machine Jin Sasaki. The bout marks Norman’s second WBO welterweight defense - and his first fight on foreign soil since a Mexican apprenticeship run in 2019.
Norman (27-0, 21 KOs) earned his belt the hard way: upsetting Giovani Santillan in San Diego for the interim title, undergoing hand surgery, then obliterating Derrieck Cuevas in three rounds this March. “The king from the South comes to take over the world,” he said, promising another chapter of “The Norman Experience.”
Watch Norman Jr.'s best highlights: Watch
Sasaki (19-1-1, 17 KOs) counters with ferocious momentum. Unbeaten at 147 since 2022, the 23-year-old WBO Asia-Pacific titlist has iced six straight opponents including veterans Keita Obara and Joe Noynay before out-pointing Shoki Sakai over 12. Bob Arum predicts fireworks: “Sasaki punches in volume, Norman punches with menace - styles made for drama.”
A pair of high-stakes co-features deepen the card streaming on ESPN+. Filipino banger Cristian Araneta (25-2, 20 KOs) and Thai knockout artist Thanongsak Simsri (38-1, 34 KOs) collide for the vacant IBF junior flyweight title, while Japanese wunderkind Sora Tanaka (3-0, 3 KOs) pursues the OPBF welterweight strap against southpaw veteran Takeru Kobata (14-7-1, 6 KOs).
Fight card:
▪️Brian Norman Jr. vs. Jin Sasaki, 12 rounds, for the WBO World Welterweight title ▪️Cristian Araneta vs. Thanongsak Simsri, 12 rounds, for the vacant IBF World Light Flyweight title ▪️Sora Tanaka vs. Takeru Kobata, 12 rounds, for the vacant Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation welterweight titles ▪️Yuya Oku vs. Reiya Abe, 10 rounds, for the vacant Japan Boxing Commission Japanese featherweight title ▪️Ren Ohashi vs. Guangheng Luan, 8 rounds, featherweight ▪️Yuito Moriwaki vs. Ha So Baek, 8 rounds, super middleweight ▪️Seiya Yamaguchi vs. Ryosuke Kiuchi, 4 rounds, lightweight
Watch Norman Jr. vs. Cuevas highlights: Watch
