Brian Norman Jr vs Jin Sasaki Keys to Victory: Breaking down tactics of each fighter

In the first defense of his WBO welterweight world title less than three months ago, Brian Norman Jr. delivered a third-round TKO of Derrieck Cuevas.

Thursday will mark another first in the American boxer’s career as he will have his first fight in Tokyo, Japan where he will put the 147-pound world championship on the line against Jin Sasaki at Ota City General Gymnasium.

With the stakes high, DAZN News analyzes the keys to victory for both the champion and challenger, breaking down each of their fighting tactics.

Brian Norman Jr.’s keys to victory

Unload the uppercuts

Brian Norman Jr. has deceptive punching speed and power as especially evidenced by his ability to crank the uppercut, sitting on it and leveraging the punch toward maximum force.

Jin Sasaki’s stance behind a high guard with hunched over, rounded shoulders might leave the Japanese fighter ripe for the picking for Norman’s explosive uppercuts.

Giovani Santillan leaned a bit too forward — like Sasaki is guilty of at times — and Norman dropped him with a right uppercut before knocking him out with a left uppercut during the same 10^th round of their May 2024 fight.

The uppercut is a weapon Norman must use.

Put together the combinations

Norman puts together combinations extremely well.

Just ask Cuevas.

After unloading a right hook around Cuevas’ guard, Norman blasted him with a left-handed swivel jab which landed flush on the chin for the knockdown.

Though Cuevas made it to his feet, his legs and more so morale were so broken that the referee halted the action for the third-round TKO in Norman’s favor.

What makes Norman's combos special is he can manufacture them with an open lane or force them through. Either way, Sasaki is likely going to have to deal with plenty of them.

Do not be goaded into a slugfest

The WBO welterweight titleholder is a disciplined fighter overall and picks his spots and shots effectively in the phone booth.

That said, at times he is all too obliging to engage in a slugfest and can be caught in those moments.

Though he ultimately stopped Santillan last May, Norman did leave himself vulnerable and got caught with punches that did damage but not enough to take him off his feet.

If Sasaki could bait Norman into cramped quarters, he will certainly try his hand at making the champ pay for slugging it out.

Jin Sasaki’s keys to victory

Make hard deposits to the body early

Showing a high, tight guard, Sasaki does a nice job at aiming upstairs with a distraction punch before loading up on a left hook to the body.

He did this well against Shoki Sakai in January and wound up winning by unanimous decision.

Making early deposits to the body could go long ways toward slowing Brian Norman Jr. down enough to land something more damaging to the face or head.

Throw the left hook in traffic

As aforementioned, Norman will slug it out in the pocket.

If Sasaki engages the champion there, he would be wise to throw the left hook in traffic.

It is a punch that Sasaki unloads with power, already. If he can time it in traffic as a counterpunch, it could change the complexion of this world title fight.

Be cautious of uppercut

By stance and movement, Sasaki’s style could leave him the apt recipient to one of Norman’s slicing uppercuts.

Sasaki can resolve this by simply being cautious of Norman’s potent weapon and also by using subtle spacing to his advantage.

The Japanese fighter fails to do this and he could be gazing up at the bright lights of Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo.