Jose Ramirez wins bloody majority decision over Jose Zepeda

Hometown hero Jose Ramirez rallied from an early deficit to retain his WBC super lightweight championship with a hard-fought 12 round majority decision over Jose Zepeda at the Save Mart Arena in Fresno, CA Sunday night.

Scores were 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112.

Ramirez (24-0, 16 KOs) pursued Zepeda (30-1, 25 KOs) all 12 rounds, but the slippery southpaw from La Puente, CA jabbed and countered well in the early rounds. Ramirez upped the ante in round five, ripping hooks to the body.

Zepeda fought back with stinging left hands to the face. Ramirez was able to force Zepeda into the ropes and score with strong shots to the head and body. His higher work rate won him a number of the later rounds--as Zepeda stopped jabbing. Both fighters dripped blood in the last few rounds with Ramirez slightly more effective.

Check back with Maxboxing for a more detailed account of this fight from Blake Chavez at ringside.