It seems weird how little the undefeated Ghanaian-Japanese southpaw light welterweight boxer-puncher gets discussed. He is coming up on ten months of inactivity since his ninth round stoppage of grizzled Venezuelan banger and fellow lefty Ismael José Barroso Bernay (matching the results of Rolly Romero and Botirzhon Abdullaevich Akhmedov, albeit much further up on the cards than either of them - and Akhmedov was dropped by Barroso). Tomorrow is a much-hyped clash between Brian Norman Jr. and Jin Sasaki - the latter of whom sustained his only professional loss to date to Hiraoka. It wasn't a close thing, either - judges' scores were 99-89 x2 and 98-90 for Hiraoka when he scrambled Sasaki's brains with a right hooker-cut for a TKO11 victory. Yet there's minimal buzz for Da Blade or demand to see him in big fights, that I can see. At light welter he is ranked #13 by the WBO and #1 by the WBA, meaning he is Gary Antuanne Russell's mandatory. In fact, the WBA officially ordered that defense a couple of months ago (the announcement came & went quietly - @Chuck Norris made a thread that got just four replies) - but the negotiations deadline was May 21st. Nearly a month later, still no fight announcement.
One of the best boxers at 140-147lbs, he's capable of beating anyone in those weight classes. He's got great skills, solid pop, and the frame to be a multiple weight champion too. Only issue is inactivity, they need to secure him that shot at Gary Russell/Brian Norman because none of the current stars are going to interested in fighting a southpaw of his caliber and relative lack of name-value outside of Japan.
Boxrec seem to love him they strangely have him 3rd at light welter above the likes of Hitchins, Paro, Russell, Barboza...when he's not even done anything yet.
[ Hasn’t done anything? That’s an exaggeration. He beat solid top 10 barroso that Rolly had to get a fake stoppage over down on the cards
Boxrec rankings can be strange due to the way they calculate them but I think he'd beat all of those guys
Yeah bit of an exaggeration. I should have wrote no particular wins of real note. Barroso is 42 years old (and looks about 60).His best days are far behind him
It’s about time he’s getting his title shot and perhaps this Saturday he’ll show the fan just how good he really is. I’m confident in his chances against Russell.
According to Coppinger (who hasn't always been the most reliable source) it has been sorted "Andy Hiraoka received the call from the embassy in Japan and was approved for his visa to travel to Las Vegas for his title challenge of Gary Antuanne Russell. He’s flying out tomorrow. Great news, this is one of three title fights on Saturday’s stacked card; should be a good one"
Hiraoka having these visa issues and leaving Japan so late makes me think Russell is going to steamroll him early. A 13-hour flight, 3 days before the fight, in a country with a 17-hour time difference, is going to wreak havoc. Why on Earth didn't his team arrange to fly out weeks ago is beyond me. If he had, I'd fancy this to be a 50/50; he's also not been in the ring since September 2024 and is now jumping in there, having to contend with these variables. I don't think it looks good.
I'm picking Hiraoka. I think he's got the right stuff to win this fight, and maybe, to look good doing it.
