Even the winner was in settlement with the damaging response from the group.
Ricardo Sandoval punched his manner again into title competition with a tenth-round technical knockout of former WBO 108-pound beltholder Angel Acosta. A stable efficiency by The Ring’s No. 6-rated flyweight was sadly overshadowed by a extremely questionable stoppage. Referee Raul Caiz Jr. was lustily booed after he stopped the DAZN co-feature at 1:59 of spherical ten Saturday at Toyota Area in Ontario, California.
“I feel it was somewhat early, I’m not gonna lie,” Sandoval confessed to DAZN’s Chris Mannix.
Sandoval was compelled to beat a sluggish begin, as he appeared a step behind Acosta. The opening spherical was aggressive however Acosta linked with a flush proper hand late within the body.
Acosta was in a position to put collectively his punches all through rounds three and 4. Sandoval was the extra correct fighter however struggled when Acosta was in a position to dig in and join together with his energy pictures.
Sandoval made the mandatory defensive adjustment in spherical 5 and shortly assumed management. The wear and tear-and-tear was evident on the 33-year-old Acosta, who badly light within the second half of the struggle. Sandoval was in a position to slip those self same energy pictures, work the physique after which come upstairs to decelerate Acosta’s offense.
Acosta got here alive within the ninth spherical, as a left uppercut momentarily turned the tide. Sandoval took the shot effectively however was out of the blue compelled to place in somewhat extra work to shut the present.
That second got here, although not within the method during which he anticipated or desired.
A proper hand by Sandoval briefly surprised Acosta halfway by way of the tenth and closing spherical. Acosta was in a position to clinch his manner out of hassle and get off the ropes. Sandoval (25-2, 18 knockouts) appeared to land the ultimate shot of the struggle on Acosta’s forearm, at which level Caiz stopped the competition.
Acosta was left dumbfounded, as was head coach Joel Diaz.
“He caught me with shot, I get it,” Acosta famous. “However I used to be clear-headed, I acquired out of hassle and I used to be combating again. I don’t perceive why the referee stopped it.”
Historical past repeated itself for Acosta (24-5, 22 KOs), whose WBO 108-pound title reign led to comparable trend. He was stopped within the twelfth and closing spherical by Elwin Soto of their June 2019 title struggle in Indio, California. He additionally suffered a disputed ten-round, cut up resolution defeat to Angelino Cordova final April 6.
Cordova (18-0-1, 12 KOs) went on to problem for the WBC flyweight title earlier this yr.
Sandoval may see an identical destiny, although he must wait out his flip. Kenshiro Teraji (23-1, 14 KOs) and Cristofer Rosales (37-6, 22 KOs) are resulting from meet for the vacant belt later this fall.
For now, he can benefit from the fruits a four-fight win streak since his lone profession defeat. Sandoval risked an IBF title shot for a struggle versus David Jimenez, towards whom he suffered a questionable majority resolution defeat in July 2022.
The setback taught him to by no means once more look previous any opponent. He went all in for this struggle and felt {that a} victory was imminent, regardless of the untimely stoppage.
“I assumed I used to be profitable the struggle. I took many of the rounds and I used to be profitable both manner,” famous Sandoval.
PRELIMINARY ACTION
Manuel ‘Gucci Manny’ Flores loved his best outing so far in a second-round stoppage of Nohel Arambulet.
The Coachella, California native scored two knockdowns, the latter which produced the total ten rely at 2:41 of spherical two. The win was the third straight for Flores (18-1, 14 KOs), all by way of second-round knockout.
Arambulet (23-7-2, 13 KOs)—the son of former WBA strawweight titlist Noel Aramabulet—suffered simply his second profession stoppage defeat.
Joel Iriarte (3-0, 3 KOs) opened the four-fight DAZN telecast with a second-round knockout of Yainel Alvarez (3-5-2, 1 KO).
All three bouts befell on the undercard of the William Zepeda-Giovanni Cabrera light-weight bout.
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