Unbeaten Rafael “El Divino” Espinoza (22-0, 18 KOs) dethroned WBO featherweight champion Robeisy “El Tren” Ramirez (13-1, 8 KOs) by twelve round majority decision on Saturday night at Charles F. Dodge City Center in Pembroke Pines, Florida. The 6’1 Espinoza was in control until Ramirez dropped him at the end of round five. Ramirez continued to rock Espinoza for several rounds. Espinoza, however, roared back down the stretch, dropping Ramirez in round twelve. Scores were 113-113, 114-112, 115-111.
Unbeaten WBO #2 junior middleweight Xander Zayas (18-0, 12 KOs) impressively demolished Jorge Fortea (24-4-1, 9 KOs) in round five. Zayas dropped Fortea with a body shot in round one and finished him with another body shot in round five. Time was 1:37.
Rising featherweight Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (10-0, 6 KOs) impressively knocked out former world title challenger Jason Sanchez (16-5, 9 KOs) in the second round. Carrington dropped Sanchez twice to end it. Time was 2:59.
U.S. Olympic super heavyweight silver medalist Richard Torrez Jr. (8-0, 8 KOs) battered Curtis Harper (14-11, 9 KOs) until the bout was stopped in the eighth round. Time was 2:03. Torrez suffered a cut over his left eye.
Junior middleweight Jahi Tucker (10-1-1, 5 KOs) and unbeaten Argentinian Olympian and WBA #5 middleweight Francisco Daniel Veron (13-0-1, 10 KOs) battled to an eight round draw. Veron seemed to do more, but judges saw it 77-75 Tucker, 76-76 2x.
Dominican Olympian junior welterweight Rohan Polanco (11-0, 7 KOs) stopped Keith Hunter (15-2, 9 KOs) with four seconds left in round six. Hunter is the brother of heavyweight Michael “The Bounty” Hunter.
U.S. Olympian junior welterweight Tiger Johnson (11-0, 5 KOs) took an eight round split decision over Jimmer Espinosa (15-2, 14 KOs). Scores were 78-74, 79-73 Johnson, 77-75 Espinoza,
Unbeaten heavyweight Damian Knyba (13-0, 7 KOs) scored an eight round unanimous decision over 290lb Michael Coffie (13-5, 10 KOs) by scores of 79-73, 80-72, 80-72.
Michael Coffie showed some promise early on with a few upsets but now looks like an aged club fighter fighting to survive and get a paycheck.
Yep! Had a nice little stretch and knocked off Darmani Rock who some people were high on at the time and then IMMEDIATELY became an opponent.
Referee supposes to protect boxers. I don’t know if the referee saw something on Keith that he decided to stop it.
To me Keith seems hurt and under attack, he was still moving, I will say it was a bit premature
Tiger fight was not split decision, I thought it was a UD fight
Tucker has the goods. There is a reason Roy had interest and Prince is advising him. He has the speed, technique of a polished fighter. He needs to sit down and turn into those shots though.
Veron is no slouch. They are evenly matched. Let’s do it again.
Carrington reminds me a little of Stevie Forbes. With more power. If his chin holds up, he’s got a hell of a shot.
Agreed
I’m sitting here thinking Zayas HAS to get this guy out of there after starting like that (that first knockdown was beautiful); he can’t go the distance and he did not. That was a very nice performance. He got hit a bit, but his defense looked a little better imo and I think Teixeira is an excellent next step up.
Underdog Espinoza won, good 12th round for Espinoza
And newwwwwwwwww
One more champion to the very long list of Mexican champions
Thanks divino Espinoza for to win the championship leaving the Mexican signature in the ring
A victory based on heart and soul more than boxing skills
Congratulations champ
I’m proud of you
Viva mexicooooo ajuaaaaaaaaaaaa
Although Espinoza had the reach and height he always went forward looking for the championship with lot of hunger and despite on apparently injured ankle he never give up
Thankssssss again divino my adrenaline still running fast
Fight of the year. unlike haney and the other dude.
pathetic.
I hope no one wasted their $$$$ on the Haney vs Prograis debacle? The Espinoza / Ramierz fight was the one to watch!
I watched both for free and your right people who paid for the Haney/Prograis debacle got ripped off!
good job Espinoza, that was one hell of a fight, Mexico will be very proud!
Now we know who this kid is..
This was a great fight. Both fighters fought their hearts out trying to get the win. Espinoza never gave up and got rewarded with a close and hard fought decision . But I got to say, he was lucky the knockdown in the 5th came at the end of the round. But even then, I don’t know how he made it through the 6th when he was so badly hurt the previous round.
This type of fight is was keeps me in the sport. After all the bull crap fights with fighters getting robbed, or fighters milking a belt trying to make money, and not fighting the best opponent out there, or even worse, having to watch a horrendous fight like we got a few weeks ago with the “superstar” Shakur Stevenson, then one fight like this happens and you want to keep watching.
JUST BEAUTIFUL!
Great fight! Classic fight! Clearly the fight of the year! Might end up as a trilogy. When was the last time we saw a Champion applaud the decision even when he lost? Bravo Ramirez, Bravo Espinoza!
fight of the year hope they have a rematch i scored it a draw
To do that you would have to give Ramirez rounds that he clearly lost like the judge who did score it a draw.
Searched for a descriptive punch that finished off Fortea, “Phantom “ or “An Illusional”.
Espinoza used his height, reach and great heart to win. His corner also worked him into top shape and provided outstanding guidance throughout the fight.
I was beginning to think Espinoza was going to get robbed when they read the score card 113-113 draw fortunately the other two judges got it right but barely, I had Espinoza winning 116-110.
Just watched Ramirez/Espinoza, now that was a fight! Let’s do it again! Judges got it right.
fantastic fight by Espinoza he deserved the decision. Good judging, by 2 anyway and BIG THUMBS up to the REF who did great job. He did not jump in wave off fight when Espinoza staggered almost fell 2nd time A++ job
What a great fight, no doubt a candidate for fight of the year. Espinoza was walking away with the fight, till the fifth round when two-time Gold Medal Cuban champ picked him off and caught him flat footed. I thought for sure Ramirez was going to close the show… and for the next three rounds it certainly looked like that. But Espinoza would not be denied, dug down deep inside his soul and sat Ramirez down in the final round. What a fight!
It’s always the fights on television that do not cost seem to be the best, most of the time.