Fighting outside of the United States for the first time, and only the third time outside of his native California, Coachella’s Randy “El Matador” Caballero scored the biggest win of his pro career last Friday in Kobe, Japan, as he stopped Kohei Ohba in eight rounds to earn a mandatory shot at IBF bantamweight champion Stuart Hall.
“This was a big win for me, and I thank my team, my promoter, and my friends, family, and fans for all their support,” said Caballero. “I didn’t care where the fight was, I was going to win and leave no doubts. Now it’s on to a world title fight, and I can’t wait for my shot at Stuart Hall.”
“A true world champion can fight anywhere they set up a ring, and by going to Japan and beating Kohei Ohba, Randy Caballero proved that he’s ready for that next step,” said Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. “We’re proud of Randy for this huge victory, and we’re ready to make a fight with Stuart Hall for the IBF title as soon as possible.”
The end came at 1:54 of the eighth round. At the time of the stoppage, the 23-year-old Caballero (21-0, 13 KOs) had a comfortable 70-61, 69-63, and 69-63 lead on the scorecards, but with a first-round knockdown of Ohba (35-3-1, 14 KOs) already in the books, he took the fight out of the judges’ hands, with the second knockdown of the fight in round eight prompting the game Japanese fighter’s corner to throw in the towel.
County Durham, England’s Hall won the IBF bantamweight title in December of 2013 with a 12-round decision win over Vusi Malinga. He retained the belt with a technical draw against Martin Ward on March 29, 2014. Now the 34-year-old’s mandatory challenger is the unbeaten Caballero, who is hungry for his shot at the belt.
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