Start with something closer to the example in the docs.

  use IO::Socket::SSL qw(debug4);

  my $client = new IO::Socket::SSL("xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:9008");
  if (defined $client) {
        print $client "GET / HTTP/1.0\r\n\r\n";
        print <$client>;
        close $client;
    } else {
        warn "I encountered a problem: ",
          IO::Socket::SSL::errstr();
    }
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Then add the additional flags you want/need until you find the problem.