Andy Hiraoka thoroughly enjoyed his second straight trip to Las Vegas.

The promising junior welterweight prospect maintained his pristine record, scoring a 4th round stoppage of Paterson, New Jersey’s Rickey Edwards. Hiraoka scored three knockdowns before the fight was stopped at 2:20 of round four in their ESPN+ televised opener Saturday evening at The Bubble at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Hiraoka made his way stateside last November, scoring a 2nd round knockout in his U.S. debut last November at The Cosmopolitan. His second trip to the U.S. was just as promising for the prodigious talent, who established his dominance in the opening round as Edwards struggled to keep pace.

Edwards landed his first significant punch of the fight one minute into round two, connecting with a flush right hand upstairs. Hiraoka was briefly buzzed, though remaining upright and with an inadvertent forearm causing a cut over Edwards’ left eye. Both fighters had their moments in the final 0:30 of the frame, with Hiraoka enjoying the best of it with a straight left hand.

Hiraoka scored the bout’s first knockdown, flooring Edwards with a quick right hand early in round three. Edwards beat the count issued by an unmasked Celestino Ruiz but spent most of the rest of the round playing defense and looking for counter rights.

The hand speed of Hiraoka was too much for Edwards, who was floored again in round four. A leaping left hook by the unbeaten prospect from Yokohama sent the American to the canvas. Edwards beat the count but was on borrowed time. Hiraoka scored a third knockdown in the bout, to which the American barely rose to his feet just prior to the count of ten. An ensuing volley prompted Ruiz to step in and stop the contest.

Hiraoka improves to 15-0 (11KOs) with the win, his first of 2020. Edwards falls to 12-5 (3KOs), suffering his second straight knockout defeat and now having lost five of his last six starts.

The bout served as the opening contest to a six-fight stream topped by Naoya Inoue (19-0, 16KOs) in a unified bantamweight title defense versus Jason Moloney (21-1, 18KOs). Hiraoka is a stablemate of Inoue.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox