Brian Norman Jr didn’t just retain his WBO welterweight title today in Japan, he landed the potential Knockout of the Year winner.

Norman demolished challenger Jin Sasaki with about as clean and devastating a left hook as you’ll see any time soon, scoring the fifth round knockout and making a second successful defense of his 147 lb title belt.

With Jaron “Boots” Ennis now out of the welterweight division, the 24-year-old Norman is looking to stake his claim as the best in the world at the weight, and he made as much statement as he could in this outing, dropping Sasaki twice in the first round and dominating the action before the brutal finish.

Norman (28-0, 22 KO) did express “nothing but respect” for Sasaki (19-2-1, 17 KO), saying his opponent “came to fight,” and also that he still has more that he has yet to show the world.

Norman also stated that he does wish he had a unification with the aforementioned “Boots” Ennis coming, but without that he plans to be back in the ring this fall in October or November.

Simsri claims IBF light flyweight crown

On the undercard, Thanongsak Simsri won the vacant IBF light flyweight title with a split decision victory over Cristian Araneta.

Two judges had 115-112 and 116-111 for Thailand’s Simsri, with the third card going to Araneta, 114-113. From where I sit, I think it’s hard to give the fight to Araneta (25-3, 20 KO), despite him scoring a knockdown and having the obviously more substantial power, because he simply didn’t do enough with that advantage, including just not throwing enough punches.

In short, the Philippines’ Araneta either didn’t or couldn’t do quite enough to win rounds, and while it wasn’t the most impressive way to win, Simsri (39-1, 34 KO) deserved the bulk of this fight just by doing more, staying more active, and, one way or another, dictating the tempo.

It’s the first world title for the 25-year-old Simsri, who is now 6-1 fighting in Japan over his young career. You’d have to call the fight a bit of a disappointment in terms of entertainment, especially after some flashes of real action in the second and third rounds. Simsri felt the power, made clear what he was and wasn’t going to do, and Araneta just didn’t answer the way he needed to answer.