Jin Sasaki vs David Ssemujju Preview September 21st, 2026
There’s an intriguing welterweight title unification bout on tap in Tokyo, Japan this Monday, September 21st when Jin Sasaki and David Ssemujju of Uganda duke it out. Sasaki will be putting his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation Title on the line while Ssemujju, who fights out of Nagoya, Japan, will be putting the Japanese, and WBO Asia Pacific Belts up for grabs. Ssemujju last fought in March when he battled Masayuki Urashima to a 10-round draw to retain his belts. Sasaki’s last outing resulted in a 10-round split decision over Sora Tanaka in May to capture the Oriental and Pacific Crown. Fans in Japan can catch the fight on Lemino Premium. In Sasaki’s previous fight in February, he stopped Marlon Pagalpalan in the second round with a tremendous one-punch knockout after Pagalpalan rained a torrent of punches down on him. Sasaki was testing the waters after being brutally knocked out himself by Brian Norman Jr. in the fifth round in June, 2025 in a shot at the WBO Welterweight Title.
Sasaski vs Tanaka Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- David Ssemujju +713
- Jin Sasaki -1500
My Pick
Sasaki recently turned 25 years old and has built up a record of 21-2-1 with 18 Ko’s. He has 104 rounds of pro experience under his belt since making his debut in 2018. He took up boxing when he started junior high school and reportedly went just 1-3 as an amateur. Things have certainly gone better for the youngster since turning pro as a teenager as he reached the 2019 East Japan Lightweight Rookie of the Year Final. However, he couldn’t make weight when he got there.
In 2020, Sasaki captured the Japanese Super Lightweight Youth Title by stopping Aso Ishiwaki in the third round. He defended the belt against Kaiki Yuba via a second-round KO to earn a shot at the vacant Japanese Super Lightweight Crown and the WBO Asia-Pacific Super Lightweight Title. He faced off against unbeaten Andy Hiraoka and was halted in 11th round for his first pro defeat. Unfortunately, Sasaki ran into a weight problem again as he was four pounds overweight and the 140 lb title was on the line for Hiraoka only.
This offence led to the Japanese Boxing Commission suspending Sasaki’s license in October, 2021 for six months and they also fined him 20 per cent of his purse. When he returned to the ring in April, 2022, he had wisely moved up to the welterweight division and halted Marcus Smith in the fifth round. The lone draw on his record came in his next fight when he fought to a six-round stalemate with Kotaro Sekine.
Sasaki then won the WBO Asia-Pacific Welterweight Belt in November, 2023 when he took care of Ryota Toyoshima in just 116 seconds. He added the vacant Oriental and Pacific Belt with a fifth-round TKO over Joe Noynay in 2024. Sasaki beat fellow countryman Shoki Sakai via a 12-round unanimous decision to defend his WBO Asia-Pacific, and Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation Welterweight Titles just before being stopped by Brian Norman. It’s obvious that Sasaki has a ton of power as he’s gone the distance just four times as a pro and 85.7 per cent of his victories have come by stoppage.
However, he has halted just one of his past four opponents and his ability to take a punch is a big question mark as he’s been stopped in both of his defeats. Sekine went the distance with him in their draw and he beat Hikaro Satu via a four-round unanimous decision in 2019. He also went the distance with Sakai and Tanaka. Although Sasaki was stopped by Hiraoka and Norman, they did represent a step up in class. Sasaki measures just over 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 69.5-inch reach.
Ssemujju is eight years older than Sasaki at the age of 33 and he carries around a mark of 9-1-1. He’s boxed just 76 rounds since turning pro in 2022 following his amateur career. As an amateur he made it to the 2020 Olympic Qualifying Tournament – Africa – Box Off and fought for Uganda as a middleweight at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. He was eliminated in the opening rounds. Ssemujju then moved to Japan to box out of the Chunichi Boxing Gym in Nagoya. However, his first four pro bouts were held in Uganda.
At 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 71-inch reach, Ssemujju is just half-an-inch taller than Sasaki and has a 1.5-inch reach advantage. He doesn’t come anywhere near his opponent as far as power is concerned though as just 55.6 per cent of his victories have come by stoppage and he’s gone the distance in three of his past four fights. Ssemujju won the vacant Ugandan Middleweight Crown in 2023 in his fourth pro contest.
He suffered his lone pro defeat two fights later when he dropped an eight-round split decision to Kamronbek Eshmatov in China. He rebounded from the loss by halting Aso Ishiwaki in the seventh round for the vacant Japanese Welterweight Belt in 2024. In his third defence, Ssemujju added the vacant WBO Asia-Pacific Crown when he stopped Kosei Nogami in the eighth round while trailing on all three judge’s scorecards.
Prediction…
Sasaki is basically known as a knockout artist in his homeland. However he doesn’t possess the greatest chin and he’s not the hardest guy to hit. Ssemujju hasn’t really been tested yet though and he’s taking a step up in class this week. He’s also eight years older than Sasaki and doesn’t have the power to keep him at bay. I think this fight is going to be decided by Ssemujju’s chin. If he can handle Sasaki’s best shots he has a chance of outpointing him, but if it’s not solid, I can see him getting stopped. I’m going with Sasaki in this fight and am expecting a stoppage.
Sasaki has the wide edge in power and experience.
Play: Sasaki -1500 @ BetOnline.ag
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David Ssemujju betting • Jin Sasaki betting