A gaudy record filled with knockouts is not necessarily an indicator of championship level talent. Twenty-two-year-old Mexican super middleweight Gilberto Ramirez entered his fight with Giovanni Lorenzo on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas with a sterling record built against guys I’ve never heard of. He appears to be the real thing, though. Ramirez (28-0, 22 KO) dominated veteran Lorenzo from the beginning before stopping him in the 5th round.
Ramirez pressed the action from the outset, using a varied body attack and some excellent left hand leads. In the 3rd round, a vicious left hand to the body doubled Lorenzo over, but just after it landed, referee Jay Nady appeared to call that it was low, which lead to a split second pause, before Ramirez unloaded and dropped Lorenzo with 35 seconds to go in the round. Lorenzo rose, but just moments later was in trouble again, when Nady jumped between the fighters after calling another low blow. The respite probably enabled Lorenzo to finish the round, which really just extended the beating he was taking. To my eyes there was not a low blow. Ramirez throws a hook-uppercut hybrid to the body with his left hand that looks like it will land low but actually comes up under the opponents arm and lands on the ribs.
Ramirez continued to dominate through the 4th and into the 5th and was hurting Lorenzo repeatedly. Lorenzo dropped to his gloves twice but only one knockdown was called by Nady. After the second official knockdown, Lorenzo appeared to indicate that he didn’t want to continue, but Nady continued to ask questions and was about to restart the action when Lorenzo’s corner threw in the towel. It was the right thing to do. Their man was taking a beating. I’m not sure what Nady was doing throughout the fight, but it wasn’t being an effective referee.
There is a great deal to like about Ramirez. He’s tall (6’2 1/2″) and has excellent reach. He has good balance and footwork. He also has good power and mixes his punches together well, especially to the body, as proven by the fact that Lorenzo needed medical attention for a broken rib. Ramirez says his desire is to face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.; a fight that ESPN’s Todd Grisham seemed to think he is ready for. He’s not. Ramirez is an excellent prospect and seems ready to take another step up, but he’s not world class yet. Lorenzo falls to 33-7 (25 KO) overall, and is 4-5 in his last nine, including two stoppages. His losses have all been to contenders and solid prospects, but he’s looking his age and is sliding from gatekeeper to journeyman.
In the co-feature, Jesse Hart (13-0, 10 KO) earned a unanimous decision over Samuel Clarkson (10-3, 6 KO) in a sloppy, sometimes difficult to watch super middleweight bout. Hart came out aggressively, keeping his jab in Clarkson’s face in the 1st, but Clarkson was able to land a few sharp counters in the 2nd and 3rd. The fight was chippy throughout, with both men hitting low and on the break.
The fight appeared to be near it’s end in the 4th, with Hart dropping Clarkson from an accumulation of punches with 1:20 to go in the round and again at :55 on a clubbing left hook. Hart was unable to finish his opponent, though, and spent the rest of the fight smothering his own punches by lunging in. Hart can punch, but his footwork is just awful. He’s either stiff legged or jumping in. He has a huge reach, but never uses it. He got the nod by a score of 80-70 across the board, TQBR had it 79-71.
The walkout bout was a four rounder between featherweights Gary Salazar and Jair Quintero. Salazar (3-0, 2 KO) was more effective in every round, but Quintero (1-2-2) was game. For a featherweight fight, neither man was as busy as one would expect. Quintero earned a unanimous decision by scores of 39-37 (twice) and 40-36. TQBR scored the bout 40-36 also.
In advance of tomorrow’s pay-per-view between Manny Pacquiao and Tim Bradley, ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna sat down with both fighters. The Pacquiao interview was basically the same as every other interview he has ever given. He smiled and didn’t speak specifics. Bradley, on the other hand, continued to be animated and emotional, and spoke of the negative reaction after his dubious victory in his first fight with Pacquiao. I like Bradley a great deal as a fighter. He’s skilled and obviously very brave, but his whining about not being appreciated is becoming nauseating. He also claimed that he would be gunning for a knockout, which is either pre-fight braggadocio or he is suffering from delusions of punching power.
Rabies Watch: Teddy’s rabies strayed from his normal frothing into a new territory. He went full on Spanish Inquisition attempting to waterboard his water faucet metaphor for Jesse Hart’s footwork into submission. We also were treated to one of my favorite Atlas-isms when Teddy said that Hart is “green behind the ears.” It was a special moment.
