Rafael Espinoza (left) lands an uppercut on Sergio Chirino, whom he floored 3 times in a 4th spherical stoppage on June 21 in Las Vegas. Photograph credit score: Mikey Williams, Prime Rank
The clock has not but struck midnight on Rafael Espinoza’s fairy story run.
A profitable first WBO featherweight protection was lodged by the unbeaten Guadalajara native, who stopped Sergio Chirino within the fourth spherical. Espinoza dropped Chirino 3 times and closed the present at 2:45 of spherical 4 Friday on ESPN+ from BleauLive Theater at Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
“The distinction is my want and my starvation to be the very best,” Espinoza informed ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna. “It reveals when I’m within the ring.”
Chirino entered the combat in hopes to turn into the primary main titlist from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The intention was to reflect the Cinderella success story of his countryman. Espinoza (25-0, 21 knockouts), No. 6 at 126 by The Ring, upset Robeisy Ramirez (13-2, 8 KOs) in a Combat of the 12 months contender final Dec. 9 in Miami.
The opening spherical noticed early success from Chirino, although Espinoza was all the time in place to make his night time a troublesome one. Chirino was made to pay for a single miss on an overhand proper. Espinoza—at 6’1”, the tallest featherweight titlist ever—countered with a compact left uppercut to provide the bout’s first knockdown.
Momentum remained in favor of the defending titlist in the course of the bout. Chirino was capable of land proper fingers upstairs however these moments have been buried by Espinoza’s scary accuracy from lengthy and quick vary.
Espinoza went again to the uppercut to ship Chirino again to the canvas late within the third. A brutal spherical noticed Chirino soak up an alarming variety of energy pictures upstairs. He managed to slide a mixture, however Espinoza responded with a proper uppercut and left hook to the physique. Chirino fell to the canvas however was capable of beat the depend and make it out of the spherical.
That very same luxurious was not afforded one spherical later.
Chirino (22-2, 13 KOs) shortly ran out of ring house however went down swinging within the fourth. It proved to be his undoing as Espinoza beat the combat out of him. A pair of left fingers pressured Chirino to show and take a knee for the bout’s third and last knockdown. Referee Raul Caiz Jr. started his depend earlier than he opted to wave off the competition.
The setback ended Chirino’s 12-fight win streak as he fell properly quick in his first profession title combat. He landed simply 34-of-153 punches (22.2%) on the night time
In the meantime, Espinoza’s profession continues to soar.
The jury was out even after his thriller with Ramirez final yr. He survived a knockdown to attain certainly one of his personal of their memorable thriller. He was way more dominant on Friday and ready to tackle all comers down the highway.
“It’s time to unify this division,” insisted Espinoza, who landed 101-of-283 punches (35.7%) in simply 4 rounds. “There’s a man on the market who needs the rematch—Robeisy Ramirez. I’m going to take just a little little bit of relaxation after which speak to my staff to find out what’s finest for our profession.”
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