Jose Ramirez won a 12-round majority decision over mandatory challenger Viktor Postol via majority decision to retain the WBC/WBO Junior Welterweight World Titles at The MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
Postol had success early on as he worked behind his long jab. Ramirez pushed the action and hurt Postol. Ramirez continued to push the action and landed some hard power shots in a battle that was nip and tuck for much of the fight. Ramirez outlanded Postol 156 to 147, and won by scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 114-114.
Ramirez, 139.8 lbs of Avenal, CA is 26-0. Postol, 139.7 lbs of Ukraine is 31-3.
Said Ramirez, “I went in there a little too cold, you know? I impressed myself. I’m much stronger than most guys think. I just gotta not lose confidence in myself and stick to what I do best and box, let my hands go and not hesitate too much. I think there was a little bit of hesitation throughout the fight.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the ring. There have been a lot of things that have happened in my personal life. It’s been such a long training camp. I think {I went} through the routine instead of, ‘Let’s fight.’
“I felt like I was just in a sparring session. I think I could’ve made the fight a lot easier in my favor, but we live and we learn. This was an amazing experience. I’m just happy I got the win.”
Said Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, “It was a good fight, but both men were impacted by going through three training camps and the whole situation with COVID-19. That being said, I thought Jose clearly won the fight.”
Barboza Decisions Luis
Arnold Barboza Jr. won a 10-round unanimous decision over Tony Luis in a junior welterweight bout.
In round six, Barboza was deducted a point. Other than that, it was all Barboza.
Barboza landed 225 of 69 punches; Luis was 135 of 577.
Barboza, 139.2 lbs of South El Monte, CA won by scores of 99-90 on all cards and is now 24-0. Luis, 139.4 lbs of Cornwall, CAN is 29-3.
Said Barboza, “To be honest, I haven’t fought since last November. I haven’t gone 10 rounds in a while. He was a tough guy. I needed the rounds. I showed a little bit of what I’ve been working on in the corner, going southpaw and all that. I give my performance a ‘B.’ I wasn’t really satisfied because I didn’t get the stoppage. It happens.
“I want {Alex} Saucedo. I think me and him would be a great fight. I know he wants it. I want it, so we could probably get it on soon. If he’s ready, I’ll be ready.”
Rodriguez stops Wilson in 3
Elvis Rodriguez kept his perfect knockout streak in-tact as he stopped Cody Wilson in round three of their scheduled six-round welterweight bout.
In round one, Rodriguez dropped Wilson with a straight left to the chin. In round three, Rodriguez sized Wilson wit a jab and landed a booming left to the head that made Wilson plummet in the corner and the fight was stopped at 1:03.
Rodriguez, 143.9 lbs of Santo Domingo, DR is 9-0 with nine knockouts. Wilson, 142.9 lbs of Farimony, NY is 9-3.
Said Rodriguez, “We knew it was going to be a tough fight because I’m a 140-pound fighter, but this fight took place at 144 pounds. I knew I had to be patient, but I knew that I could set up that knockout.
“When someone like Freddie Roach, a Hall of Famer, a legendary trainer, says that about someone like me, wow, that’s amazing. It’s also bringing some pressure because I have to perform. I know that under him, I’m going to continue to develop my skills, my talent, and I’m not going to let anyone down.”
Raymond Muratalla remained undefeated as he stopped Cesar Valenzuela in round seven of a scheduled eight-round lightweight bout,
In round one, Muratalla dropped Valenzuela with a straight right to the head. In round two, Valenzuela got even as he dropped Muratalla with a right to the head.
After that, Muratalla started to and continued to beat up Valenzuela until the fight was stopped at 2:24 of round seven.
Muratalla, 135.4 lbs of Fontana, CA is 10-0 with eight knockouts. Valenzuela is 134.9 lbs of Phoenix, AZ is 15-7-1.
In a battle of undefeated bantamweights, Gabriel Muratalla won a four-round unanimous decision over Justice Bland.
In round one, Bland seemed to have dropped Muratalla, but he hit him while he was down, and then docked a point.
Muratalla, 119.6 lbs of Fontana, CA won by scores of 38-36 on all cards, and is now 5-0. Bland, 118.7 lbs of Brooklyn, NY is 2-1.
Javier Martinez remained undefeated by pounding out a six-round unanimous decision over Rance Ward in a middleweight bout.
Martinez, 159.5 lbs of Milwaukee, WI won by scores of 60-54 on all cards and is now 2-0. Ward, 162.9 lbs of Houma, LA is 4-2-1.
