WBO welterweight champion leaves rival unconscious with brutal ‘KO of the year' contender
BRIAN NORMAN JR scored one of the knockouts of the year during a championship fight.
The 24-year-old was fighting to retain his WBO welterweight title against Jin Sasaki in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday.
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And during round five, The Assassin II landed a brutal left hook squarely on his opponent's face as he left his guard down.
Norman Jr had managed to knock down his Japanese rival twice in the opening stages.
However, his round five hit saw Sasaki left flattened on the canvas.
Medical staff rushed into the ring to treat the 23-year-old as he was laid out for over a minute.
He was then placed on a stretcher and rushed to hospital. A status update on him was not provided in the immediate aftermath of contest.
Reacting to the punch on social media, one boxing fan said: "Ko of the year."
A second said: "This has to be ko of the year so far right?"
A third added: "Man…that is CLEAN."
Another said: "Perfect KO punch."
The win saw Norman Jr improve to 28-0 with this being his 22nd knockout.
Norman Jr became the interim WBO welterweight champion after beating Giovani Santillan last May.
He was then elevated to full champion status when Terence Crawford vacated the belt to move up to super welterweight.
Derrieck Cuevas challenged for the belt in March of this year but was also defeated by Norman Jr via TKO.
Meanwhile, Sasaki - a relatively unknown quantity going into the bout - fell to 19-2-1, having previously been stopped in 2021 by Andy Hiraoka in a Japanese superlightweight title fight.
Norman Jr now has his eyes set on unification bouts for the division.
An all-American fight with IBF and WBA champion Jaron Ennis had been on the cards until Ennis declared his intention to move up to 154lbs.
Speaking about a potential clash with Ennis, Norman Jr had said: "About the future, I wish I had a certain fight coming up, but they heard there was a storm coming."
"And you all know what happens when a storm is coming, you grab your boots and run.
"We shall see what is next for me. Hopefully October or November, we can get something, but we shall see."
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