At only 25 years old, Rico Ramos has already been a world champion.
He won the WBA super bantamweight by defeating Japan's Akifumi Shimoda in July 2011 even though he was losing every round on the official cards before pulling out a seventh-round one-punch knockout.
Rios: beat Ramos, but did not look top class
Six months later, Ramos went on to lose his belt in his first defence to Cuba's Guillermo Rigondeaux by getting knocked out in round number six. He had also been knocked down in the first and sixth rounds from body shots but there was no shame in losing to such a great fighter.
Ramos got back on the horse soon after his loss and has now moved up to featherweight. This past weekend he fought for the NABF belt against fellow American Ronny Rios who was unbeaten at 19-0. The winner of this fight would move into the top 10 in the rankings and take one step closer to fighting for a world title.
Rios may have gotten the win over a young former champion but neither fighter looked close to world level.
Wayne McCullough
Quotes of the week
Ramos looked gun shy, not appearing as though he wanted to win and allowed Rios to dictate the fight. Rios used a long left jab from the start to guide his way in close; the left hook that won Ramos the world title was not there and he didn't try to make it into a fight but instead let Rios be the boss.
Rios was hungrier, pushing Ramos back. His right uppercuts were scoring well and he was knocking his opponent's head backwards on occasion.
Ramos had a little success in the last few rounds landing left hooks and rights but it wasn't enough to win him the fight. The jabs from Rios were the most effective punches and even though he threw it straight, he was still able to catch Ramos who never moved his head to avoid them or jab back at angles to try to out-jab the jabber.
The ninth was probably the best round of the fight for Ramos as he got his punches off quicker and more accurately, something he should have been doing in the first half.
Rios was awarded the win on scores of 100-90, 97-93 and 96-94. It was a closer fight than 100-90 - which means one judge gave every round to Rios.
Rios may have gotten the win over a young former champion but neither fighter looked close to world level.
Surprise
Elsewhere John Molina, coming off his surprising first round KO loss to Antonio DeMarco last September, switched trainers from Joe Goossen to Robert Garcia.
That was a surprise - he can't blame his trainer for getting knocked out!
Dannie Williams was the chosen opponent for Molina's return and he was hoping to get back into title contention with a win. The fight was for the NABO lightweight title and took place in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Instead of Williams coming out and trying to blast Molina out, he jabbed and moved and threw no power shots at all. Williams was moving and boxing well and was in the lead until the fourth round when a nice right to the head knocked him down. He got up at the count of nine but was outside the ropes and the referee stopped the fight.
Molina is back with a knockout win on his record and can now move towards a title.
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