Jose Ramirez doesn’t disappoint hometown crowd, victorious and back in hunt for title belt
Jose Ramirez stepped back in the ring Friday evening and rebounded from a loss with a unanimous decision win over Jose Pedraza.
The judges (Zachary Young, Steve Weisfeld, David Sutherland) scored the fight at the Save Mart Center, 116-112, in front of over 8,000 fans.
That win puts Ramirez (27-1, 17 KOs) back in the title picture.
“I was a little tense coming into this fight because of my last fight,” Ramirez said. “Fighting at home, last minute, I got a little more tense than I thought I was going to be. I went out there and just boxed, had fun in there. I played it smart, used my jab, and I think I won more than eight rounds.”
Ramirez lost to Josh Taylor by unanimous decision in May 2021 in a unification title bout.
The Avenal native hasn’t fought since until Friday evening.
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said Ramirez could fight Taylor again, this time in Scotland, should Taylor remain at 140s. Arum said he told Taylor to think it over for two weeks.
“Then he may just defend a couple of the titles because it’s a real burden having four titles and paying 12 percent of his purse in sanction fees,” Arum said.
A source told The Bee that if Taylor vacates the titles, Ramirez could fight for the WBC title sometime in the summer against Jose Zepeda. The two fought in front of a packed crowd at the Save Mart Center in 2019 that Ramirez won by majority decision.
Ramirez needed a win against Zepeda to stay in contention for a world title before he moves up to 147. He controlled the fight from the onset, landing body shots and upper cut on Pedraza (29-4) whose right eye began to swell in the third round
Entering the 11th round, Ramirez was ahead by two points on all three judges’ cards and increased the pressure in the final two rounds, outlanding Pedraza, 28-14..
“Jose Pedraza is a smart, experienced fighter,” Ramirez said. “He was going to find a way to survive and put up a fight. He was there boxing towards the end of the fight. My hat’s off to him and his team. He was well-prepared. It was a great fight. I got to see where I am right now.”
According to CompuBox, Ramirez landed 133 shots to Pedraza’s 110. The 29-year-old Ramirez landed 42 jabs, while Pedraza had 21.
It was a successful bout for Ramirez who is looking forward to facing anybody at 140.
He hopes that fight will come sooner rather than later after a lengthy layoff.
“I’m going to go back, work and stay focused and stay active,” he said. “That’s one thing that’s affected me these last couple of years. I’ve trained so many times for a little bit of fights. My inactivity, my discouragement throughout training camps, it really took a big toll on me. I’m ready to stay active and stay motivated. There’s a lot of really great fighters coming up to 140. There’s a lot of really good fighters at 140 right now.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 11:09 PM.
