Yahoo Movies After year absence, Jose Ramirez triumphant in Fresno return. Now he’s calling out champions
Even before Jose Ramirez stepped back into the boxing ring after being away for over a year, he had his eyes set on becoming a world champion again.
That was no slight to his opponent Saturday night in Richard Commey at the Save Mart Center, where Ramirez won by knockout in a WBC junior welterweight title eliminator.
Ramirez (28-1, 18 KOs) sealed the fight with two knockdowns in the 11th round. And he’s hoping Saturday’s win sends him back onto the championship contention track.
“The goal is always to be a world champion, and that’s what I’m going after,” he said. “After this fight, I’m calling everybody out ... all the champions out. I’m ready to face them.
“There’s been another side to the story of other fights not happening. But I’m tired of talking about that. It’s time for me to go out there and perform and show the world that I’m the best at 140 (pounds). I’m going to prove it one fight at a time.”
Ramirez was to fight WBC world champion Regis Prograis, but passed up his title shot because the purse was split at 65%-35% in favor of Prograis. Ramirez said he would’ve fought Prograis if the purse would’ve paid him 40%.
Instead, the former world champion fought Commey before 11,201 fans.
How Ramirez got two knockdowns
Ramirez came out aggressive in the 11th round before he scored his first knockdown on Commey when he connected on a short upper-cut and landed a shot to the temple. He sealed the fight with a left-handed body shot on Commey who retreated and was on one knee.
The time of the stoppage in the 11th round was 2 minutes, 31 seconds. It was Ramirez’s first knockout win since July 2019.
“I hurt him in the first round. But he’s a tough guy,” Ramirez said. “He took some good shots. And he picked it up in the middle of the fight, too. I heard his team motivating him. I wanted to make a statement and show that I’m the stronger guy in there.
“In this level of competition, ain’t nobody afraid of anybody. I’m definitely not afraid of any fighter at 140.”
Ramirez last fought in March 2022 when he won a unanimous decision over Jose Pedraza at the Save Mart Center.
He took the rest of the year off to marry his longtime girlfriend, Marisol, in November.
Ramirez will ramp up his fights this year and said “the goal is to fight two or three times” in 2023, hoping one of those fights is against Prograis.
“If Regis Prograis is serious about fighting, we can sit down and negotiate,” he said. “Let’s sit down and make the fight.”
Other bouts
Women: Seniesa Estrada (24-0, 9 KOs) unified the WBA and WBC minimumweight world titles with a unanimous decision victory over Tina Rupprecht (12-1-1, 3 KOs).
Heavyweights: Antonio Mireles (7-0, 6 KOs) went the distance for the first time in his career as he defeated Patrick Mailata (6-2, 3 KOs) by six-round split decision.
Lightweights: Raymond Muratalla (17-0, 14 KOs) overcame an early knockdown to stop Humberto Galindo (14-3-1, 11 KOs) via knockout in the ninth round.
Lightweights: Charlie Sheehy (6-0, 4 KOs) defeated Angel Rebollar (6-2, 3 KOs) via six-round unanimous decision.
Light flyweights: Jessie James Guerrero (3-0-2, 3 KOs) was held to a four-round majority draw against Eduardo Alvarez (0-2-1).
Junior welterweights: Ricardo Ruvalcaba (8-0-1, 7 KOs) won by KO over Marco Antonio Cardenas (9-8-1, 4 KOs) in the opening round.
Junior featherweights: Subaru Murata (4-0, 4 KOs) scored a first-round stoppage over Jose Negrete (2-2, 2 KOs).
