Brian Norman Jr is back in the ring on June 19 when he takes on Jin Sasaki at Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. Making his second ring appearance of the year, the 24-year-old makes the second defense of his WBO welterweight title.
In his previous outing in March, Norman (27-0, 21 KOs) faced Derrieck Cuevas (27-2-1, 19 KOs) in a rescheduled matchup in Las Vegas. Battling it out on the undercard of Mayer vs Ryan 2, the native of Decatur, Georgia successfully retained his belt against the contender from Puerto Rico.
The scheduled 12-round contest ended prior to the final bell. Norman claimed the win, defeating Cuevas by TKO in the third round. The official time of the stoppage was 2:59 into the round.
On his way to victory, the champion sent his opponent to the canvas, tagging him with a left hook followed by a right hand and another left. The challenger got back on his feet but didn’t answer referee Thomas Taylor when asked whether he wanted to continue, and the bout was waved off.
In his next fight on Thursday, Brian Norman Jr steps through the ropes on rival territory. He is opposed by 23-year-old Japanese once-beaten contender Jin Sasaki (19-1-1, 17 KOs), who aims for his eighth straight victory in his first bid to become champion.