Andy Hiraoka has punched his means into title rivalry.
The unbeaten junior welterweight picked up an interim model of the WBA title with a ninth-round stoppage of Venezuela’s Ismael Barroso. The all-southpaw battle ended with Barroso’s nook waving the towel at 2:58 of spherical 9 Tuesday at Ariake Enviornment in Tokyo, Japan.
Barroso, 41, appeared for counterpunching alternatives all night time. He had pockets of success, however his possibilities have been few and much between. Hiraoka used his lengthy attain, intelligent footwork and an informed jab to manage the vary and dictate the exchanges.
Consistency was the important thing for Hiraoka. He owned heart ring, used sensible feints and pissed off Barroso into over-committing. A clear counter proper from Hiraoka rocked the top of Barroso within the third spherical.
The center rounds of the bout adopted the same sample. Hiraoka stayed lengthy and challenged Barroso to shut the space. He made Barroso pay on each ends, with punishing mixtures at shut quarters and stiff jabs when he boxed from the skin.
Hiraoka rocked Barroso with a counter proper hook within the fifth. The identical punch produced a flash knockdown within the sixth, as Barroso appeared extra pissed off than harm.
On the finish of the seventh, Hiraoka landed with a pleasant mixture, with Barroso backed into the ropes. The boxing lesson from Hiraoka continued within the eighth behind his crisp jab. Barroso grew to become more and more pissed off, he uncovered his defensive flaws. Hiraoka took benefit each time.
Hiraoka opened up within the ninth. He dropped Barroso with a volley of pictures, beginning with a bomb of an overhand left and culminating with a proper rip to the physique. Barroso beat the depend, however barely. Hiraoka unleashed once more, sending the tiring Barroso to the canvas for the third time within the bout.
With seconds left on the clock, Barroso’s nook known as for an finish to the competition. It could not have been an exciting struggle, but it surely was scientific from Hiraoka (24-0, 19 knockouts).
Whereas the belt at stake was only a secondary title, it’s now Hiraoka’s ticket to the large stage. He’s now the necessary challenger to full WBA 140-pound titleholder Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela (14-2, 9 KOs).
Barroso fell to 25-5-2 (23 KOs). He gained the interim belt in a first-round knockout of Ismael Barroso on Jan. 6 in Las Vegas.
JIN SASAKI SHINES
Jin Sasaki (18-1-1, 17 KOs) as soon as once more proved why he is without doubt one of the most harmful boxers within the division.
The Ring’s No. 9-rated welterweight topped a dogged and decided Qamil Balla within the seventh spherical of a scheduled 12-round bout.
Sasaki loaded up with each shot from the opening bell. The 23-year-old Japanese powerhouse lunged in with left hooks to the physique and head. It made for an uncomfortable begin to the struggle for Balla and issues solely obtained worse early within the second when Sasaki once more leapt ahead, initiating an unintentional conflict of heads.
The contact opened up a reduce over the left eye of Balla, who switched southpaw to guard the reduce and had some stage of success from the lefthanded stance. As he returned to his nook, Balla was additionally bleeding from the nostril.
Within the third spherical Sasaki began quick once more, touchdown explosive pictures that Balla struggled to keep away from. Bullying Balla backwards, Sasaki caught the 35-year-old Australian on the ropes with a chopping left hook to the ear that crumpled his opponent to the canvas. Sasaki went in for the kill, however Balla weathered the storm. Nonetheless, it simply appeared like a matter of time.
In opposition to all odds, Balla settled within the fourth and had his greatest spherical of the struggle within the fifth when he switched stance successfully to land sharp pictures from angles. Sasaki seemed to be fatiguing, but it surely wouldn’t be for lengthy.
The sixth spherical was all Sasaki as he loaded up with energy pictures. He harm Balla to the physique early within the spherical, however the customer hung powerful to listen to the bell even because the hometown favourite unloaded on him.
It was a small victory. Sasaki, smelling blood within the water, went in for the kill to begin the seventh, and he didn’t have to attend lengthy. A volley of pictures despatched Balla reeling throughout the ring and as Sasaki adopted him with energy pictures, referee Michiaki Someya correctly stepped in to cease the carnage on the 0:52 mark of the spherical.
Sasaki goals to change into the primary Japanese boxer to win a model of the world title.
“I need a title match,” mentioned Sasaki, who’s ranked within the prime 5 by all 4 main sanctioning our bodies.
SHIMOMACHI SURVIVES KNOCKDOWN TO DEFEAT TSUGAWA
Within the 10-round opener, Toshiki Shimomachi (19-1-3, 12 KOs) needed to climb off the canvas to retain his Japanese junior featherweight title by unanimous resolution towards a decided Ryuya Tsugawa (13-2, 9 KOs).
The struggle was carefully contested by means of the primary seven rounds. Lanky southpaw Shimomachi, 27, used his lengthy levers to good impact, sniping from the skin and punishing the 24-year-old Tsugawa when he lunged inside.
However because the rounds progressed, Tsugawa grew to become extra energetic, notably in the beginning of every spherical. His elevated aggression paid dividends halfway by means of the eighth stanza when he related with a left hook, proper cross mixture. Shimomachi was caught flush and despatched him all the way down to the canvas.
Sadly for Tsugawa, he couldn’t end the job. After two extra tight rounds, the bout went to the playing cards with Shimomachi a unanimous resolution by scores of 96-93 twice and 97-92.
All three bouts came about on the Naoya Inoue-TJ Doheny undercard.
Australian-based boxing journalist Anthony Cocks has been masking the game for over 20 years for varied print and on-line publications. Observe him on X.
