Even the winner was in settlement with the unfavorable response from the group.
Ricardo Sandoval punched his method again into title rivalry with a tenth-round technical knockout of former WBO 108-pound beltholder Angel Acosta. A strong 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 Enviornment in Ontario, California.
“I feel it was slightly 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 capable of put collectively his punches all through rounds three and 4. Sandoval was the extra correct fighter however struggled when Acosta was capable of dig in and join along with his energy photographs.
Sandoval made the required defensive adjustment in spherical 5 and shortly assumed management. The damage-and-tear was evident on the 33-year-old Acosta, who badly light within the second half of the struggle. Sandoval was capable of slip those self same energy photographs, 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 instantly compelled to place in slightly extra work to shut the present.
That second got here, although not within the method by which he anticipated or desired.
A proper hand by Sandoval briefly shocked Acosta halfway via the tenth and closing spherical. Acosta was capable of clinch his method 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 a superb shot, I get it,” Acosta famous. “However I used to be clear-headed, I received 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 resulted in 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 12 months.
Sandoval might see an analogous destiny, although he should wait out his flip. Kenshiro Teraji (23-1, 14 KOs) and Cristofer Rosales (37-6, 22 KOs) are attributable to 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 successful the struggle. I took many of the rounds and I used to be successful both method,” famous Sandoval.
PRELIMINARY ACTION
Manuel ‘Gucci Manny’ Flores loved his best outing thus far in a second-round stoppage of Nohel Arambulet.
The Coachella, California native scored two knockdowns, the latter which produced the total ten depend at 2:41 of spherical two. The win was the third straight for Flores (18-1, 14 KOs), all through 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 came about on the undercard of the William Zepeda-Giovanni Cabrera light-weight bout.
