WBO welterweight king Brian Norman Jr. has finished preparations for Thursday's world title defense against Japanese challenger Jin Sasaki at Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo. This is the second title defense for Norman (27-0, 21 KOs), who burst onto the scene with last May's upset of Giovani Santillan in Santillan's hometown of San Diego. (photos by Naoki Fukuda)

He now enters enemy territory again versus Sasaki (19-1-1, 17 KOs), who is unbeaten in nine fights and known as a relentless volume puncher. Sasaki earned the title shot with January's 12-round decision over Shoki Sakai on the Naoya Inoue-Ye Joon Kim undercard.

Norman-Sasaki and undercard bouts will stream live and exclusively on ESPN+ in the U.S. starting at 4 a.m. ET/1 a.m. PT. The main event is scheduled to begin at approximately 7:15 a.m. ET/4:15 a.m. PT.