Jose Ramirez outpoints Rances Barthelemy, Vergil Ortiz gets quick KO

Jose Ramirez’s night time wasn’t excellent however he received the job executed in entrance of his hometown followers.

The 140-pound contender survived quite a few nasty left arms from Rances Barthelemy to win a one-sided resolution in a 12-round over-the-weight bout Saturday night time in Fresno, California, not removed from the winner’s hometown of Avenal.

The official scores had been 119-109, 119-109 and 118-110. Boxing Junkie additionally scored it 118-110 for Ramirez, 10 rounds to 2.

𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐍𝐎 – stand UP 🆙Jose Ramirez and Rances Barthelemy went to 𝐖𝐀𝐑 for 12 rounds ⚔️ Ramirez getting the win tonight in his Golden Boy debut 🔥#RamirezBarthelemy | #OrtizDulorme | LIVE on DAZN April 27 pic.twitter.com/cGoKFYQ2zD

— Golden Boy (@GoldenBoyBoxing) April 28, 2024

“It wasn’t the very best efficiency of my profession,” Ramirez mentioned. “I feel I received overly excited. … I might hear folks screaming my identify, I might see acquainted faces at ringside. So there have been many instances in the course of the combat I used to be distracted.”

Ramirez (29-1, 18 KOs) received the combat by outworking his 38-year-old opponent from starting to finish, notably continuous physique work that appeared to put on Barthelemy down by the tip of the one-sided, however attention-grabbing combat.

Barthelemy (30-3-1, 15 KOs) stored it aggressive by touchdown quite a few laborious left arms all through the bout that both stung or damage Ramirez and stored the potential for an upset alive.

The third spherical was wild, as Ramirez, who had taken a very laborious left, hit the canvas and Barthelemy punched him a number of instances earlier than he was in a position to rise up. Referee Jack Reiss dominated that Ramirez went down from a push. And he warned Barthelemy for his foul.

“Throughout that second in that spherical,” Ramirez mentioned, referring to the primary left, “I received distracted and received hit with one punch. It motivated him. If I didn’t get distracted, if that wouldn’t have occurred, I feel I might’ve damaged his spirit.

“I feel that punch of his form stored him within the combat, stored him believing he might in all probability do it once more. That was a lesson for me.”

It was virtually all Ramirez after that. The previous beltholder smothered Barthelemy, pounding him on the within and taking little in return. And he gave the impression to be extra cautious about taking the punishing lefts, though Barthelemy nonetheless slipped a few of them by way of Ramirez’s protection because the combat progressed.

An exhausted Barthelemy gave the impression to be on the verge of being stopped in Spherical 11, after which Reiss warned him for in exercise. The Cuban gave a great effort within the last spherical to complete on his ft.

The CompuBox stats informed the story. Ramirez landed 255 of 854 punches, Barthelemy solely 112 of 439. Barthelemy landed a excessive proportion of his energy punches (47.4%) however Ramirez outlanded him virtually 2-1 in that division, 194 to 101.

Ramirez, who hadn’t fought in 13 months, has fought solely thrice – all victories – since he misplaced his belts to Josh Taylor by a detailed, however unanimous resolution in 2021.

He hopes to remain extra energetic below new promoter Golden Boy going ahead so he can show he stays among the many finest 140-pounders.

“I’ll combat anyone at 140,” he mentioned. “I simply need to be energetic. I don’t need to sit round. Whoever Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions, the entire workers, and my group has in thoughts, regardless of who it’s, I’m able to combat anyone.

“A combat like that, you don’t look your finest, you keep motivated within the health club and also you change into a unique animal. That’s what I need to do.”

Within the co-feature, 154-pound contender Vergil Ortiz knocked out veteran Thomas Dulorme with a single left to the physique solely 2 minutes, 39 seconds right into a scheduled 12-round bout.

Ortiz, who was coming off a first-round knockout of Fredrick Lawson in January, has stopped all 21 of his opponents.

The fighters had been nonetheless getting warmed up when Ortiz related on the physique shot, which despatched Dulorme to the canvas in nice ache. The Puerto Rican remained down when the referee reached the rely of 10.

The victory units up a gathering with former 154-pound titleholder Tim Tszyu on the Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov card on Aug. 3.

Dulorme (26-7-1, 17 KOs), a former title challenger, has misplaced 4 of his previous 4 fights.