Jin Sasaki's vicious knockout defeat to Brian Norman Jr. epitomizes the brutal reality of combat sports
Jin Sasaki was awake in a hospital bed Thursday night with no visible signs of brain damage.
It appears to be positive news, but ask Sasaki how he ended up being stretchered in an ambulance to a local hospital, and he wouldn't have a clue.
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That is because Sasaki is reportedly suffering from around six weeks of memory loss. Not only can the Japanese welterweight not remember his brutal KO loss to Brian Norman Jr. on Thursday for the WBO world title, but he also cannot recall anything that happened this past month or for the majority of May either.
That is the brutal reality of boxing — and indeed of combat sports. On one end of the spectrum, you have a 24-year-old American world champion ascending into a boxing star. On the other, there's a 23-year-old who doesn't know where he is or why he's there.
Sasaki was floored twice in the opening round by Norman Jr. It was clear within 90 seconds of the fight that Norman was the superior boxer, and Sasaki's chances of winning the fight were slim, at best. The writing was on the wall, and the bout should've been stopped there and then, but Sasaki and his training team were too proud to lose in that fashion in Sasaki's first world title challenge in his home city of Tokyo.
Instead, Sasaki fought fire with fire, trading with the smarter and stronger Norman Jr. He smiled at the conclusion of Round 1 when he went back to his corner; he seemed happy to be involved in a fight that he couldn't really win.
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Sasaki continued to absorb heavy punishment from Norman. He nodded his head, acknowledging that Norman was hurting him with power punches, and even spoke to Norman during the action in Round 3, imploring the champion to continue attempting to finish him with big shots, as Norman's current output wasn't enough to deter Sasaki from coming forward — or so he claimed.
Norman continued to put a beating on Sasaki, landing heavy artillery to the challenger's face and visibly forcing him off his stance. In Round 5, however, it all came to a sensational end. Norman landed a devastating left hook that saw Sasaki's head concerningly thump onto the canvas, with the boxer flat on his back for over a minute after the punch landed.
Norman refused to celebrate after landing the best shot of his career. There was grave concern for Sasaki's well-being in the immediate aftermath of the knockout, with Sasaki's team and ringside doctors crowding his still body in the ring. It was an avoidable end to a brutal fight.
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The bottom line: Fighters need saving from themselves. Every shot Sasaki took after the second knockdown in the first round was unnecessarily taking time off his career — and potentially even his life. Sasaki is a young fighter who could reach the top level of the sport again. He did not need to absorb the potentially life-changing punishment that he received on Thursday.
It remains to be seen whether Sasaki will ever be the same fighter. He might not be, and he only has his corner team — the people whose job it is to look after his best interests — to blame for that.
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