Ramirez Trudges Through Perez

By Marc Livitz: HBO’s pay TV telecast from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas commenced with an enticing matchup between 2012 U.S. Olympian, Jose Ramirez and Manuel "Manny" Perez for the WBC Continental Americas super lightweight title. Each fighter showed uninhibited levels of effective aggression from the opening bell and although Perez was the elder statesman in terms of ring experience, it was Ramirez who found early success with jabs to the head.

Perez seemed happy to trade and looked to return fire with body shots. Midway through the third round, an unintentional headbutt opened cuts upon Manny’s forehead. Jose came out firing in the fourth as he threw shots up and down, yet Perez continued to absorb the assault and refused to slow down. Jose looked to really open up later in the period in an effort to simply wear out his Denver, Colorado opponent. As was the case in previous encounters, Manny continued to work the body of his undefeated central California nemesis throughout the middle rounds of the scheduled ten.

Bleeding from the mouth and nose, Perez began to move his head a bit more as Jose’s peppery shots were beginning to make a noticeable difference. He looked to bring the fight into closer quarters in round eight, perhaps in an effort to slow the pace of the former Olympian. Hard punches were about even, although Jose held an extreme edge in jabs, especially to the head.

This was not exactly a walkover. Ramirez simply did more and never stopped. Perez (25-12, 6 KO’s) didn’t care and he gave the effort reminiscent of a hard nosed fighter who took his lunch pail to work and never felt comfortable outside of a blue collar setting. Ramirez (18-0, 12 KO’s) learned a lot on the job through the the ten round affair as evidenced by the scores submitted by the ringside judges. They read as follows: 97-93 (Robert Hoyle), 98-92 (Eric Cheek) and 99-91 (Don Trella). Jose Ramirez retained his title with the victory.

Additional Results from Las Vegas

Oleksandr Gvozdyk KO 2 Nadjib Mohammedi - Light Heavyweight
Konstantin Ponomarev MD 10 Brad Solomon - Welterweight
Devin Haney UD 4 Rafael Vazquez - Lightweight

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April 9, 2016