Sasaki vs Sakai

Who won Sasaki vs Sakai?

Jin Sasaki beat Shoki Sakai by unanimous decision in their 12 round contest on Friday, January 24th, 2025, at Ariake Arena, Tokyo.

The scorecards were announced as 117-111, 118-110, 116-112 in favor of winner Jin Sasaki.

The fight was scheduled to take place over 12 rounds in the Welterweight division, which meant the weight limit was 147 pounds (10.5 stone or 66.7 kg).

This fight appeared on the undercard of Naoya Inoue beating Ye Joon Kim for the IBF World Junior Featherweight, WBC World Super Bantamweight, WBO World Junior Featherweight and WBA Super World Super Bantamweight championship. Also on the undercard Tsubasa Narai defeated Kai Watanabe.

Sasaki vs Sakai stats

Back in January 2025, Jin Sasaki stepped into the ring with a record of 18 wins, 1 loss, and 1 draw.

Shoki Sakai made his way to the ring with a record of 29 wins, 14 losses and 3 draws.

Jin Sasaki was the younger man by 11 years, at 23 years old.

Sakai had a height advantage of 1 inch over Sasaki. Despite this, he had a 2-inch reach advantage.

Both Jin Sasaki and Shoki Sakai fought out of an orthodox stance.

Sasaki was the less experienced professional fighter, having had 26 fewer fights, and made his debut in 2018, 8 years and 1 month later than Sakai, whose first professional fight was in 2010. He had fought 231 fewer professional rounds, totaling 87 compared to Sakai's 318.

Jin Sasaki went into the fight ranked number 4 by the WBA, 4 by the WBC, 3 by the WBO, and 3 by the IBF at welterweight.

Activity check

Sasaki's last 3 fights had come over a period of 1 year, 9 months and 16 days, which means he had been fighting approximately every 7 months and 7 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 15 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 5 rounds on average.

What time did Sasaki vs Sakai start?

The fighters were expected to ringwalk at around 10:00 AM UTC at Ariake Arena, Tokyo, Japan, which was 5:00 AM EST or 2:00 AM PST on the West Coast of America, or 10:00 AM GMT in the UK.

Who broadcast Sasaki vs Sakai?

Sasaki vs Sakai was broadcast on Sky Sports+ in the UK, while the fight was broadcast in the United States by ESPN+.

What were the odds on Sasaki vs Sakai?

Jin Sasaki was a 3/50 (-1700) favorite going into the contest, while Shoki Sakai made his way into the ring at 17/2 (+850) with oddsmakers.