Brian Norman Jr.: "This Championship Belt Means Everything to Me!"

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Norman to defend WBO welterweight crown against Japan's Jin Sasaki on enemy turf in Tokyo

TOKYO (June 17, 2025) — Atlanta's newest world champion traveled nearly 7,000 miles to take care of business.

WBO welterweight king Brian Norman Jr. has finished preparations for Thursday's world title defense against Japanese challenger Jin Sasaki at Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo. This is the second title defense for Norman (27-0, 21 KOs), who burst onto the scene with last May's upset of Giovani Santillan in Santillan's hometown of San Diego.

He now enters enemy territory again versus Sasaki (19-1-1, 17 KOs), who is unbeaten in nine fights and known as a relentless volume puncher. Sasaki earned the title shot with January's 12-round decision over Shoki Sakai on the Naoya Inoue-Ye Joon Kim undercard.

Norman-Sasaki and undercard bouts will stream live and exclusively on ESPN+ in the U.S. starting at 4 a.m. ET/1 a.m. PT. The main event is scheduled to begin at approximately 7:15 a.m. ET/4:15 a.m. PT.

This is what Norman said at Tuesday's press conference.

Brian Norman Jr.

"This championship belt means everything to me. This opens a whole lot of doors. This is what I dreamed about since I was 7 years old. I'm 24 years old now, so just imagine how long that is. That's 17 years. This is literally what I've been working for my whole life. I'm not giving it up at all. I don't care where I'm at, I don't care what the location is... this will forever be with me."

"I look out here and I see the fanbase that he has. I see all the love he has received, and I respect that he's doing his job. Now it's time for me to do the job that I'm supposed to do as the WBO welterweight world champion."

"Confidence is key. With Jin Sasaki saying he's only 80 percent confident, I mean, that's on him. But, also, he says he wants to overcome that. I respect him for being a man and actually saying that out loud and being real with everyone and himself. With me, I come to the ring every time a million percent confident and ready to go. I know the work I put in. I know the time I put in. This is not just this year. This is not just last year. This is year after year, day after day, second after second. This is what I live for. This is what I love to do.”

"Of course, we're here in front of all these cameras, but to be real, it's just the sport of boxing. I don't really care about this. I just like to fight, and I will have fun in the ring come June 19."

Thursday, June 19

 LIVE on ESPN+ (4 a.m. ET/1 a.m. PT) 

Brian Norman Jr. vs. Jin Sasaki, 12 Rounds, Norman's WBO Welterweight World TitleSora Tanaka vs. Takeru Kobata, 12 Rounds, Vacant OPBF Welterweight TitleYuya Oku vs Reiya Abe, 10 Rounds, Vacant Japanese Featherweight TitleCristian Araneta vs. Thanongsak Simsri, 12 Rounds, Vacant IBF Light Flyweight World Title 

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