Ramirez Overwhelms An Overmatched Shimizu In Five
On the undercard of Stephen Fulton vs Naoya Inoue, Cuba’s Robeisy “El Tren” Ramirez (13-1, 7 KOs) made the first defense of the WBO featherweight title against local product Satoshi Shimizu (11-2, 10 KOs) at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
A two-time Olympic gold medalist, big things were expected from Ramirez when he turned pro. However, Ramirez was served a dose of humble pie when he lost his professional debut. That setback served as a wake-up call.
After hooking up with trainer Ismael Salas, Ramirez has focused and started to live up to the immense hype. On April 1, the Cuban lefty captured the then-vacant WBO strap with a unanimous decision win over the former junior featherweight champion, Isaac Dogboe.
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Ramirez now faced Shimizu, who was not that known outside Japanese boxing circles. Nevertheless, the challenger did capture a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympic games, and his pro record indicated a fighter who, at the very least, could punch.
TURNING ON THE POWER
This was a battle of lefties. After a feel-out opening round, the defending champion began to find the opening for the straight left hand and the left and right uppercut. The taller challenger attempted to apply pressure to unsettle the defending champion.
But Ramirez was the more accurate fighter, and one could tell that it was only a matter of time as he was landing with the cleaner and harder shots during rounds three and four.
Early in the fifth, Shimizu was stunned by a Ramirez right uppercut. Follow-up uppercuts from the champion put the Japanese fighter down on one knee. Sensing his opponent badly hurt, Ramirez poured on the punches until the referee had no recourse, but to step in and stop the action.
Overall, it was a dominant performance from Ramirez, who continues to mature and improve with each outing. Next up for the fighter from Cuba could be a matchup with Arnold Khegai, currently ranked second by the WBO at featherweight.
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