Earlier today, Brian Norman Jr. successfully defended his WBO welterweight title for the second time with an emphatic highlight reel knockout over Jin Sasaki in Tokyo, Japan.

Norman (28-0, 22 knockouts), rated at No. 1 by The Ring at welterweight, asserted his dominance early by dropping the Sasaki twice with quick counters, in the first round before a chilling left hook laid out the challenger in the 5th round.

The manner of victory impressed Top Rank's vice-president of boxing operations Carl Moretti, who was ringside to witness the fight.

"I thought [Norman] kept his composure terrifically, even after scoring the first two knockdowns in the first round," Moretti told The Ring. "The other guy, you could see, he was getting desperate and [Norman] didn't want to get caught with something crazy but he kept to the game plan and you could see him getting closer and breaking down and obviously scoring the knockout. It was great to see that maturity and composure throughout."

Entering the contest, Sasaki held the No. 6 position in The Ring ratings and figured to be a dangerous proposition.

However, it played out that Norman was levels above and made Sasaki look every inch the crude slugger.

"At the end of the day it is [levels] but that's why you fight the fights," he said. "[Sasaki] totally had the upmost confidence in himself and wanted to challenge Brian and on the road you don't know how you're going to react but to [Brian's] credit, he followed the game plan to a tee.

"That's what you wish for and it's harder on the road but it also proves a lot. That's how you right it up on the book beforehand."

The brutal knockout will live long in the memory.

"No one's beating that knockout, that is the knockout of the year," predicted Moretti. "And will make every highlight reel and people will keep playing it and that's what people want to see. We were a long way from Times Square."

After a win like that Norman is hot and said in his post fight interview that he hoped to fight sometime around October or November.

Moretti concurred with his fighter and would also like to give him an Atlanta homecoming though believes they need to be smart and not go there during football season.

"That time frame seems about right, we'll go out one more time before the end of the year," he said. "We'll look at the division, look at some contenders, we'd love a unification, we'd love a bigger name, like [Devin] Haney and Teofimo [Lopez] or one of those other guys at [1]40 if they wanna come up and challenge for a welterweight title.

"I don't expect a call from PBC saying, 'Lets do Rolly [Romero] and Brian Norman next.' I'd love it but if I wait on that I may be six feet under. I think our phones going to be quiet for a while with those guys."