LAS VEGAS – Fast hands, rugged ability and manhood of steel.

Gary Antuanne Russell had (and needed) all of it to make a first successful defense of his WBA 140lbs belt Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.

In a stiff challenge from mandatory contender Andy Hiraoka, of Japan, Maryland’s Russell produced a unanimous decision victory by scores of 117-110 (Steve Weisfeld), 116-111 (Glenn Feldman) and 116-111 (Jack Reiss) to improve to 19-1 (17 KOs).

“I listened to my corner very well and we went through plans A, B and C,” Russell said afterward as Hiraoka, 24-1 (19 KOs), lost for the first time..

Hiraoka was defiant at Friday’s weigh-in that the visa problems and travel delays that forced him to arrive in Las Vegas after a 20-hour saga Thursday did not leave him jet-lagged or lessened for the bout.

Russell-Hiraoka was previously delayed after it had been slotted on the canceled fall exhibition between Gervonta Davis and Jake Paul.

The pair exchanged jabs to start until Russell increased the pressure and landed a hard right.

Russell’s hand speed allowed him to hammer Hiraoka’s body and deliver clean head shots in the third. Hiraoka was left to backpedal and ponder an effective – and elusive – response.

Jabs can only do so much in cases like this.

The forward pressure by Russell limited Hiraoka’s strategy. The combinations and varied activity often left Hiraoka on the ropes.

Staying in close, Hiraoka achieved some success with body punching in the sixth.

“He tried to pick up the intensity,” Russell said. “I knew I had the confidence to make the adjustments. I’m well-versed. He’s never fought nobody like me.”

The force of that body attack increased by Hiraoka in the seventh, but Russell escaped and responded with his own body striking.

Russell knew going in he was dealing with a formidable puncher he had described as a “bricklayer,” and the toll of those punches were felt in the eighth as Hiraoka tested the titlist’s endurance.

Russell showed him in the ninth, remaining in the pocket and staying active even as the thud of Hiraoka’s body shots echoed up the arena.

Russell cornered Hiraoka with head shots in the 10th, but after Hiraoka absorbed a borderline low blow, he crushed Russell with a legit hammer fist to the area some might call a “balls-eye,” requiring a more substantial delay and costing Hiraoka a one-point deduction.

Each fighter delivered head-rocking blows late in the 11th, indicating how narrow the margin of the action was.

Russell’s clean left to the head early in the 12th was followed by good body shots, and he fought off Hiraoka’s attempt to corner him. The pair let both hands fly in the final seconds, drawing sincere applause.

Russell said he wants title unifications now, the last of which would be undefeated four-division champion Shakur Stevenson, who worked the broadcast Saturday.

“All the guys with titles, I want you,” Russell said. “I’m a student of the game. I want to build up … Shakur can be last. He earned it. I’m going to do the same.”

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.