Earlier today in Tokyo, Japan, WBO featherweight champ Robeisy Ramirez of Cuba scored an impressive and entertaining fifth round stoppage win over a game but far too hittable Satoshi Shimizu.
A Left uppercut to the head dropped the 37-year-old Japanese challenger, Shimizu’s mouth pouring blood. Shimizu showed heart in beating the count, but Ramirez literally smelled blood, and his follow-up attack forced the ref to dive in, the timing of the stoppage a good one.
Time was 1:08 of round 5, and Ramirez, who was making his first title defense, is now 13-1(8); Ramirez having shockingly lost his pro debut. Stopped for just the second time in his career, Shimizu falls to 11-2(10).
Today’s clash of southpaws saw shorter man Ramirez target the head exclusively, his tactics appearing curious to some early on. But Ramirez showed he knew what he was doing, his power shots breaking down Shimizu. Uppercuts were plentiful from Ramirez, and it was apparent quite early that this one would very likely come down to how much Shimizu could take.
Ramirez was in a ruthless, no-nonsense mood today, and it showed. We know Ramirez wants a big fight with “The Monster,” Naoya Inoue – who will have to go some to top Ramirez’ dominantly exciting performance – and today he certainly made a case for being able to give Inoue a real fight (this is, of course, assuming Inoue gets past Stephen Fulton a few minutes from now).
At age 29, Ramirez is getting better and better in each fight. Trained by countryman Ismael Salas, Ramirez, an outstanding amateur who won two Olympic gold medals, could wind up being a real great.
Not only is Ramirez showing us he is better and better all-round in each fight? He is also showing improved punching power in each fight he has.
Look for Ramirez to win some more belts and plenty of bigger fights down the road, whether he gets a date with Inoue or not. Ramirez was pretty much flawless today, against a hittable target, granted.