The impressive, intense and aggressive Jin Sasaki landed just about every shot imaginable on his way to a seventh-round stoppage of the game Australian welterweight Qamil Balla.
Sasaki, now 18-1-1 (17 KOs), made his intentions clear early on, and didn’t really slow.
Balla, 15-2-1 (8 KOs), from Victoria in Australia, had only previously lost to George Kambosos and earned every cent of his purse in Tokyo.
“I want a title match,” said Sasaki afterwards.
Sasaki was a threat from the opening bell – looking twitchy, imposing, quick and powerful, and clobbering Balla with a left hook that clearly won the Australian’s respect early on.
Balla, having just his third fight in four years, switched southpaw and gamely tried to fight back, but he took a shot to the liver and a right hand as Sasaki stalked him into the corners.
Early in the second heads clashed, and an instant ridge appeared over Balla’s left eye as the blood streamed on to his body and the fight was paused for a doctor’s inspection.
Allowed to continue, both tried to land big right hands, and Sasaki had success with a left to the body followed by one to the head. Another body shot earned “oohs” and “aahs” from the audience; Balla’s nose also bled and his face was a mask of smeared crimson as he sat on his stool after the second round.
Sasaki planted his feet and slugged away with both hands to open the third, and Balla was having to fight hard to keep the Japanese fighter off him and, as he lobbed over a right hand to deter Sasaki, the Japanese fighter threw a huge left hook that dropped the Australian in a heap in his own corner – his left leg folding dramatically beneath him.
Sasaki looked an absolute menace standing in front of Balla and landing left hands almost at will – and all-but teeing off on him near the bell.
There was no quit in Balla, who came out firing in the fourth and landed occasional shots to the body, but Balla was being urged by his corner to stay off the ropes because it was there where Sasaki accepted the invitation to bomb away with lefts and rights.
Balla, from the southpaw stance, had his moments in the fifth, switching up his offense by threading through uppercuts and taking the power out of his shots but landing more. Sasaki slowed and seemed more one dimensional. Was he taking a round off? Or had Balla weathered the storm? Near the end of the session, Balla cracked Sasaki with a right to the body and one up top and all of a sudden it looked as though the fight could be on.
In the sixth, however, Sasaki hurled a right into Balla’s midsection, and the Aussie showed out, wincing and moving to disguise his anguish. Balla, ridiculously courageous, was regardless battling back some 20 or 30 seconds later.
Still, Sasaki landed big – a left hook – to the body at the end of the round and Balla looked winded, hurt and damaged as he trudged back to his corner.
Balla was sent out with the instructions to punch and hold in the seventh, but some 30 seconds into the session Sasaki burst through with a succession of shots, up and down. Sasaki was blasting away with left hooks and, as Balla retreated, his legs simultaneously gave out and the referee moved to intervene.
Read the full article here
