Jin Sasaki faces Shoki Sakai on January 24 at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. The bout serves as the co-feature to Naoya Inoue vs Ye Joon Kim, live on ESPN+. The all-Japanese contest is scheduled for 12 rounds at welterweight. Sasaki’s WBO Asia Pacific, and Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) region belts are on the line.
23-year-old Jin Sasaki (18-1-1, 17 KOs) targets his seventh straight victory. In his previous outing last September, the native of Hachioji, Tokyo stopped Qamil Balla in the seventh round. In May, he eliminated Joe Noynay in the fifth round.
Shoki Sakai (29-14-3, 15 KOs) looks to return to winning ways. The 34-year-old from Amagasaki, Hyogo dropped a split decision against Ryota Toyoshima last May. The defeat snapped his three-fight winning streak.
In the main event, Japanese four-division champion Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) makes the third defense of his undisputed super bantamweight title against Ye Joon Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs) of Korea. The latter took the fight on short notice, replacing Australian Sam Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs), who was forced to withdraw due to injury.
The original co-feature to Inoue vs Goodman was scheduled to see Japan’s Yoshiki Takei (10-0, 8 KOs) defending his WBO bantamweight title against Thai Yuttapong Tongdee (15-0, 9 KOs). The bout was canceled due to a shoulder injury suffered by the representative of the host country.
Among other bouts featured on the Inoue vs Kim undercard, Goki Kobayashi (7-1, 5 KOs) of Japan goes up against Filipino-born Japanese Yuni Takada (15-8-3, 6 KOs). The minimumweight matchup is scheduled for 12 rounds with Kobayashi’s WBO Asia Pacific strap at stake.
Plus, Tsubasa Narai (14-2, 10 KOs) takes on Japanese fellow Kai Watanabe (13-1-1, 7 KOs) in a 10-rounder at lightweight. In addition, a 10-round all-Japanese super bantamweight clash pits Toshiki Shimomachi (19-1-3, 12 KOs) against Misaki Hirano (11-1, 4 KOs).