World Boxing Organization featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez of Cuba, unleashing a barrage of left uppercuts and right hooks from his southpaw style, stopped 11th-ranked challenger Satoshi Shimizu of Ohashi Boxing Gym in the fifth round to retain his title on July 25 at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena.

  The technical knockout of the scheduled 12-rounder came 1 minute and 8 seconds into the round when the 29-year-old Ramirez swarmed all over Shimizu, also a southpaw, after dropping him for a mandatory eight count with a series of left uppercuts, which prompted the referee to call off the fight.

  It was Ramirez’s first successful defense of the title he won on Apr. 1 this year.

  Up until the stoppage, Ramirez led the fight by landing left uppercuts and right hooks while moving side to side quickly to avoid Shimizu’s hard punches. Both fighters tipped the scales at 57.0 kg (125.75 lbs.). It was the 37-year-old Shimizu’s first crack at a world title.

  Ramirez captured the gold medal in the flyweight division in the 2012 London Olympics and also won the gold medal in the bantamweight division in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, whereas Shimizu captured the bantamweight bronze medal in the London Olympics.

  With the win, Ramirez, who has been fighting out of the U.S. as he defected to the U.S. in 2018, has a professional record of 13 wins, including eight knockouts, against a loss (in his debut). With the defeat, Shimizu fell to an 11-2 win-loss tally with 10 KOs.

  The fight served as the chief supporting card for the World Boxing Council and WBO super bantamweight title match between champion Stephen Fulton of the United States and Shimizu’s stablemate and top-ranked challenger Naoya ‘’the Monster’’ Inoue.