Robeisy Ramirez made a successful first defense of the world featherweight title with a dominant victory over an ever-coming Satoshi Shimizu in Japan.
Fighting on the Naoya Inoue vs Stephen Fulton undercard, “El Tren” traveled halfway around the world and authored a devastating performance.
The WBO champion took out Shimizu via a fifth-round TKO.
Robeisy Ramirez retains the WBO title
The two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist had little trouble figuring out Shimizu despite his opponent being a two-time Olympian. Shimizu had also won three straight fights entering his first world title opportunity.
Ramirez stayed in the pocket against his taller foe, ripping Shimizu with uppercuts and right hooks around his high guard.
In the fifth, Ramirez floored Shimizu with a left uppercut.
Shimizu rose from the canvas with a bloody nose and had no answer for the follow-up flurry. A pair of right hooks, followed by a crunching left, forced referee Ramon Pena to step in and halt the one-way beating.
After his triumph, Ramirez said: “This was a tremendous experience. It is a blessing to be able to demonstrate my talent in a stadium full of people and this part of the world. I am grateful and happy. The job is done.
“Now I set my sights on a world title unification clash. I am ready to go to Japan, Scotland, England, Mexico, wherever we have to fight. I will always be available to do my job.”
In the super bantamweight division, Yoshiki Takei made it seven knockouts from seven bouts with a TKO8 of Ronnie Baldonado. The end came 68 seconds into the final round.
At light flyweights, Kanamu Sakama also remained undefeated with a similar result. He stopped Ryu Horikawa in the eighth with only twenty seconds remaining in the session.
The event occurred in front of a packed crowd inside the Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
