Pick it: Brian Norman Jnr vs. Jin Sasaki
When to Watch: Thursday, June 19. The stream will begin at 4 a.m. Eastern Time (9 a.m. BST), with the main event expected to begin around 7:15 a.m. ET (12:15 p.m. BST).
Why to Watch: This should be an action fight. And it has bearings on the future of 147lbs.
The welterweight division was left wide open once Terence Crawford captured all four world titles and departed – and the man who had previously held three of those belts, Errol Spence, also headed north to 154lbs.
At the time, all four sanctioning bodies had secondary beltholders. Over time, each received an upgrade: Jaron “Boots” Ennis (IBF), Eimantas Stanionis (WBA), Mario Barrios (WBC) and Brian Norman Jnr (WBO).
Ennis defeated Stanionis this past April to unify and was also awarded the Ring Magazine championship. He could be moving up to junior middleweight as well. That might be frustrating for Norman – who couldn’t reach an agreement last year for a fight with Ennis – but it might also open up some doors if those two titles become vacant.
And it will be interesting to see if the winner of the July 19 fight between Mario Barrios and a returning Manny Pacquiao wants to meet up with the winner of Norman’s bout with Jin Sasaki.
Norman, 27-0 (21 KOs), will be making the second defense of his full WBO title. The 24-year-old from Georgia won the interim WBO belt in May 2024 with a 10th-round knockout of Giovani Santillan. After the negotiations with Ennis fell apart, Norman’s first defense was initially scheduled for last November against Derrieck Cuevas. Norman suffered a hand injury, however, and instead he blew through Cuevas in three rounds this March.
There’s a far deeper pool of big names at junior middleweight, but Norman wants to become the face of the 147lbs weight class.
“I got bad news for the other welterweights: I’m very comfortable in this division,” Norman told BoxingScene’s Jake Donovan last week. “I’m gonna be here for a good time. If I move up from 147, it’s only because I ran out of bodies.”
For this fight, Norman has flown all the way out to Tokyo to face Sasaki at the Ota-City General Gymnasium. Sometimes it’s the case for the titleholder that there’s more money available to fight in your challenger’s hometown.
Sasaki, 19-1-1 (17 KOs), is a Japanese fighter who is about a month and a half away from his 24th birthday. He turned pro at 17 as a lightweight, moved up to junior welterweight and then showed that he had clearly outgrown 140lbs just before taking his first pro defeat.
That was in October 2021, when Sasaki, 20 years old and 11-0 at the time, came in four pounds overweight at 144lbs for a fight with the 17-0 Andy Hiraoka. Sasaki was well behind deep into the fight and was stopped in the 11th round. Hiraoka is now a junior welterweight contender on the verge of challenging WBA titleholder Gary Antuanne Russell.
As for Sasaki, he’s gone 8-0-1 since – the draw was soon after the Hiraoka loss and came against a 3-0 foe. More importantly, Sasaki, who came in at 142lbs for that draw, ultimately committed fully to fighting at 147lbs.
Despite Sasaki’s win streak and his No. 2 ranking with the WBO, this will still represent a big step up in level of competition. Sasaki’s most notable win to date is probably his third-round drubbing of Keita Obara in April 2023; Obara had also been promptly dispatched by junior welterweight titleholder Eduard Troyanovsky in 2016.
In Sasaki’s two most recent outings, he won a seventh-round TKO over the 15-1-1 Qamil Balla last September and a unanimous decision over the 29-14-3 Shoki Sakai in January.
There’s a second title fight on the undercard, with Cristian Araneta and Thanongsak Simsri competing for the vacant IBF belt at 108lbs. That title previously belonged to Masamichi Yabuki, who now owns the IBF flyweight belt.
Araneta, 25-2 (20 KOs), is a 30-year-old from the Philippines. He’d lost two previous title eliminators for this very same IBF title that he’s now fighting for. Araneta was stopped after four rounds with Daniel Valladares in 2019; Valladares later earned a world title at 105lbs. And Araneta lost a close unanimous decision to Sivenathi Nontshinga in 2021. Nontshinga went on to win the IBF title.
Finally, the third opportunity was where Araneta broke through. In January 2024, he took out the 17-1-1 Arvin Magramo in less than two minutes to earn this title shot. Araneta’s last bout was in December, when he put away the 16-8 Sanchai Yotboon in less than a minute.
Simsri, 38-1 (34 KOs), is a 24-year-old from Thailand. As with many boxers from his country, he’s remained incredibly active against a bunch of no-hopers. Simsri took his only loss in 2022, losing via seventh-round TKO to the aforementioned Yabuki. Fourteen straight wins have followed. The most notable was a split decision in December over former strawweight titleholder Masataka Taniguchi. The most recent was a third-round knockout in February of the 11-8 Songchai Songklod.
Also on this show: a welterweight fight between Sora Tanaka, 3-0 (3 KOs), and Takeru Kobata, 14-7-1 (6 KOs); and a featherweight fight between Yuya Oku, 8-0-2 (5 KOs), and former title challenger Reiya Abe, 26-4-2 (10 KOs).
More Fights to Watch
Friday, June 20: Matty McHale vs. Sean Bruce (Triller.TV)
The broadcast begins at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time (6:30 p.m. BST).
This junior bantamweight fight headlines at Caledonia Gladiators Arena in East Kilbride, Scotland.
McHale, 7-1 (5 KOs), is a 30-year-old from Edinburgh, Scotland. He is coming off a close decision loss in February to the 10-0 Brandon Daord.
Bruce, 6-1 (0 KOs), is a 29-year-old from Leicester, England. His last outing was also a defeat, a close referee’s decision loss against the 6-0 Callum Singh last October.
Friday, June 20: David Stevens vs. Petr Khamukov (DAZN)
The broadcast begins at 9 p.m. Eastern Time (2 a.m. BST).
This show at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, is headlined by a super middlefight fight between Stevens and Khamukov.
Stevens, 14-2 (10 KOs), is a 25-year-old from Reading, Pennsylvania who was last dropping a competitive split decision to Bektemir Melikuziev in November. Although the fight ended in defeat, that was at least a much better outcome than two bouts beforehand, when Stevens was taken out in one round by prospect Joeshon James in October 2023.
Khamukov, 13-0 (6 KOs), is a 33-year-old from Russia now living in Los Angeles. He competed in the 2016 Olympics, losing in his first outing against Albert Ramirez. He last fought in May 2024, notching a third-round knockout over the 21-16-1 Esau Herrera de la Cruz.
Although Khamukov fought as a light heavyweight as an amateur, his professional career has mostly been at middleweight. Will he be undersized against Stevens?
Saturday, June 21: Galal Yafai vs. Francisco Rodriguez Jnr (DAZN)
The main broadcast begins at 2 p.m. Eastern Time (7 p.m. BST). A preliminary stream begins at 11:15 a.m. ET (4:15 p.m. BST).
Yafai, 9-0 (7 KOs), is edging closer to a title shot. The flyweight won the vacant interim WBC belt last November with a sixth-round TKO of former titleholder Sunny Edwards.
The WBC ordered Yafai to defend against Rodriguez while its full titleholder, Kenshiro Teraji, was tied up – first with a unification bout against Seigo Yuri Akui in March, in which Teraji added the WBA belt after a phenomenal battle, and next in an upcoming defense on July 30 against Ricardo Sandoval.
Yafai is 32 years old but only turned pro in 2022. That’s because he remained in the amateur system following his early exit in the 2016 Games, where he was sent packing in his second fight of the light flyweight tournament. Yafai did much better in the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021 due to the pandemic), competing as a flyweight and winning the gold medal.
It would be fitting if he returned to Tokyo to challenge Teraji for the green and gold belt. But first comes Yafai’s second straight hometown main event at Resorts World Birmingham in England.
Rodriguez, 39-6-1 (27 KOs), is a 32-year-old from Mexico who held a world title at 105lbs a decade ago and has been a perpetual contender since.
Six months after a September 2013 loss at flyweight to Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, Rodriguez was soon down at strawweight, where he stopped Merlito Sabillo to capture the WBO belt. Following one successful defense, Rodriguez moved up to 108lbs and lost a unanimous decision to titleholder Donnie Nietes in July 2015, and he then received the short end of a split decision against Moises Fuentes.
Rodriguez subsequently went up in weight and racked up 15 straight victories, landing a September 2021 fight with Kazuto Ioka for a junior bantamweight title. Ioka won a unanimous decision. Two fights later, Rodriguez was clearly outpointed by Junto Nakatani in November 2022. He’s fought four times since, winning three and seeing his last performance – an eight-round decision over the 30-16-4 Josue Morales in December – overturned to a “no contest.” The details of that situation were not immediately available as this article went to press.
In the co-feature, junior featherweight Peter McGrail, 11-1 (6 KOs), will face late replacement Ionut Baluta, 17-5-1 (3 KOs), after Shabaz Masoud pulled out with an injury. McGrail has won three in a row since his shocking fifth-round knockout loss to Ja'Rico O'Quinn in December 2023. Baluta is better than his record indicates and has given the U.K.’s domestic-level fighters some trouble.
Also on this show is a welterweight fight between Conah Walker, 15-3-1 (6 KOs), and Liam Taylor, 28-2-1 (14 KOs); the second pro fight of Olympian turned cruiserweight prospect Pat Brown; and several other developing boxers.
Saturday, June 21: Callum Walsh vs. Elias Espadas (UFC Fight Pass)
The main broadcast begins at 10 p.m. Eastern Time (3 a.m. BST). A preliminary undercard will stream on the UFC Fight Pass YouTube page at 9 p.m. ET (2 a.m. BST).
Callum Walsh has defeated everyone who’s stood across the ring for him. But his next opponent, Elias Espadas, recently ended another prospect’s winning streak.
Walsh, 13-0 (11 KOs), is a 24-year-old junior middleweight prospect originally from Cork, Ireland. He lives these days in Hollywood, California, where he is trained by Freddie Roach.
Walsh has won his last four fights via knockout. The last three were particularly early nights: two-round victories over the 14-5 Carlos Ortiz Cervantes in June 2024 and the 22-2-1 Przemyslaw Runowski in September, and a one-rounder against the 19-1 Dean Sutherland in March.
Walsh is rated No. 6 at 154lbs by the IBF and WBC.
“I’ve heard a lot of talk about future fights, but right now I’m solely focused on Espadas,” Walsh said earlier this month. “I need to beat him to take the next steps in my career.”
Espadas, 23-6-1 (16 KOs), is a 34-year-old from Mexico. On paper, he may have seemed like fodder going into his April fight with the 15-0 Sadriddin Akhmedov. Espadas had lost to a few recognizable names, going the distance in defeat to the 15-0 Yamaguchi Falcao in 2018, stopped in five rounds by Xander Zayas in 2022, and put away in nine by the 21-0 Fiodor Czerkaszyn in 2023.
But against Akhmedov, Espadas showed that he is a cagey – and capable – veteran, holding the A-side fighter to a majority draw. He’s also got a good trainer in his corner, working with Manny Robles.
“I feel that I beat Akhmedov and should have gotten the decision,” Espadas said. “On June 21, I’m going to beat another undefeated fighter, Callum Walsh. I’m building on the momentum of my last fight. Coach Manny and I are putting together a great game plan for victory.”
On the undercard at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California, three unbeaten prospects will be featured in separate bouts.
Junior welterweight Cain Sandoval, 15-0 (13 KOs), will face late replacement Jonathan Jose Eniz, 36-22-1 (17 KOs). Light heavyweight Umar Dzambekov, 11-0 (8 KOs), will meet gatekeeper Roamer Alexis Angulo, 28-3 (23 KOs), whose losses came against Gilberto Ramirez, David Benavidez and Edgar Berlanga. And featherweight Iyana "Roxy" Verduzco, 4-0 (1 KO), will face Celene Roman, 6-3-1 (0 KOs).
Plus welterweight Gor Yeritsyan, 20-1 (16 KOs), will fight for the third time since his split decision loss last July to the 15-0-1 Aram Amirkhanyan. Yeritsyan’s opponent is Vernon Brown, 13-2-1 (9 KOs), last seen more than three years ago in a unanimous decision loss to Ardreal Holmes Jnr.
Saturday, June 21: Vito Mielnicki vs. Kamil Gardzielik (ESPN+)
The broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time (11:30 p.m. BST).
One of the greatest fight atmospheres this writer ever experienced was an August 2010 fight at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which was full of Polish flags and chants as Tomasz Adamek outpointed Michael Grant.
Why do I mention that? Because this bout is at the very same venue and is bound to also have an enjoyable atmosphere. The main event is between Vito Mielnicki, an American of Polish background who hails from nearby Roseland, and Kamil Gardzielik, who is from Poland. Plus the co-feature is an all-Polish affair.
Mielnicki, 20-1-1 (12 KOs), is a 23-year-old in his second bout at middleweight after a few years at 154lbs. He moved up thinking he would be stronger at 160, only to fight to a draw with the 21- Connor Coyle in February on the undercard of Keyshawn Davis’ title win over Denys Berinchyk. Mielnicki says he wasn’t happy with his performance against Coyle but feels he deserved the victory.
The draw ended a 12-fight win streak dating back to a majority decision loss to the 6-2 James Martin in April 2021.
Gardzielik, 19-0 (4 KOs), is a 32-year-old who is fighting for the first time in 2025. Last year, he won an eight-round unanimous decision over the 26-25-2 Pavel Semjonov and a six-round majority decision over the 4-14 Lukasz Barabasz.
In the co-feature are a pair of unbeaten heavyweights – Damian Knyba and Marcin Siwy – both hailing from Poland.
Knyba, 15-0 (9 KOs), is a 29-year-old who now lives in New Jersey. He fought just once in 2024, defeating the 16-6 Richard Lartey Harrison via third-round TKO in November. Knyba then returned quickly, stepping in the ring this past February, though it was a step backward in terms of level of competition – he was facing Andrzej Wawrzyk, who had previously been knocked out by Harrison, whom Knyba had just knocked out. Knyba beat Wawrzyk via TKO3.
Siwy, 25-0-1 (12 KOs), is a 34-year-old who hasn’t fought in nearly three years, dating back to a draw with the 11-26-2 Kamil Sokolowski in September 2022.
Also on the undercard is a bout between middleweights Jahi Tucker, 14-1-1 (6 KOs), and Lorenzo Simpson, 15-2 (9 KOs), in a match that follows a dispute about which of them got the better of the other in a sparring session; and a fight between junior welterweights Brandun Lee, 29-0 (23 KOs), and Elias Damian Araujo, 22-5 (9 KOs).
Saturday, June 21: Rashidi Ellis vs. Josec Ruiz (Swerve.TV)
The broadcast begins at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time (12:30 a.m. BST).
Ellis, 26-1 (17 KOs), is a 32-year-old welterweight from Lynn, Massachusetts, headlining about 30 miles away at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium.
Ellis is fighting for the third time since his sole defeat. He won his first 24 fights, including a unanimous decision over the previously undefeated Alexis Rocha in October 2020. But he was upset by Roiman Villa on the undercard of Gervonta Davis vs. Hector Garcia in January 2023. Villa dropped Ellis twice in the final round, which proved to be the difference on the scorecards.
Ellis spent more than 21 months out of the ring before returning last October, stopping the 14-5 Brian Damian Chaves after two rounds. In February, Ellis defeated the 16-9 Jose Angulo, who called it a night after seven rounds. Ellis has also been keeping busy via the Team Combat League, in which boxers take part in one-round bouts that contribute to their team’s overall score.
Josec Ruiz, 24-8-3 (17 KOs), is a 30-year-old from Honduras. He returned this past April after nearly two and a half years away, facing lightweight contender Albert Bell and losing 100-87 on all three scorecards.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter. David’s book, “,” is available on Amazon.