Welterweight prospect Jin Sasaki will once again share the spotlight with undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue.
Sasaki’s last fight, a seventh-round technical knockout of Qamil Balla, was part of the ESPN+ broadcast of Inoue’s victory over TJ Doheny in September.
ESPN+ will stream Inoue as he defends against late replacement Ye Joon Kim on January 24 in Tokyo. Kim stepped in after Inoue’s originally scheduled opponent, Sam Goodman, pulled out with a bad cut over his left eye, the same wound that postponed Inoue vs. Goodman from its initial date in December.
The broadcast will include Sasaki in the co-feature slot against Shoki Sakai, according to Top Rank, which co-promotes Inoue. The show is scheduled to begin at 4:15 a.m. Eastern Time (9:15 a.m. GMT).
Sasaki, a 23-year-old from Tokyo, is 18-1-1 (17 KOs). His lone loss came in October 2021, when he was stopped in 11 rounds by Andy Hiraoka. Sasaki has gone 7-0-1 since. He is ranked No. 3 by the IBF and WBO, and No. 4 by the WBA and WBC.
Sakai, a 34-year-old from Yokohama, is unranked and 29-14-3 (15 KOs). His last fight was in May, when he dropped a split decision to the 18-3-1 Ryota Toyoshima. Sakai’s record also includes losses to some familiar names, with decision defeats against Alexis Rocha and Gor Yeritsyan, both in 2019.
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