Jose Ramirez’s night wasn’t perfect, but he did an excellent job in front of his home fans.
The 140-pound contender survived some nasty left hands from Rances Barthelemy to win a one-sided decision in a 12-round welterweight bout Saturday night in Fresno, California, not far from his hometown The winner’s flavor is Avenal.
The official scores are 119-109, 119-109 and 118-110. Boxing Junkie also scored it 118-110 for Ramirez, 10 rounds to 2.
𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐍𝐎 – stand UP 🆙
Jose Ramirez and Rances Barthelemy went 𝐖𝐀𝐑 for 12 rounds ⚔️ Ramirez wins tonight in Golden Boy debut 🔥#RamirezBarthelemy | #OrtizDulorme | LIVE on DAZN April 27 pic.twitter.com/cGoKFYQ2zD– Golden Boy (@GoldenBoyBoxing) April 28, 2024
“It wasn’t the best performance of my career,” Ramirez said. “I think I was too excited. … I could hear people screaming my name, I could see familiar faces at ringside. So there were many times during the match when I was distracted.”
Ramirez (29-1, 18 KOs) won the fight by outmaneuvering his 38-year-old opponent from start to finish, especially the relentless physical work that seemed to exhaust Barthelemy by the end of the fight. One-sided but interesting fight.
Barthelemy (30-3-1, 15 KOs) stayed competitive by landing several hard left hands throughout the round that left Ramirez sore or injured and kept the possibility of an upset alive. .
The third round was very eventful, as Ramirez, who had landed a particularly strong left, hit the canvas and Barthelemy punched him several times before he could get up. Referee Jack Reiss ruled that Ramirez fell down after a push. And he warned Barthelemy for his foul.
“In that moment in that round,” Ramirez said, referring to the first left fielder, “I got distracted and got hit with a punch. It motivates him. If I hadn’t been distracted, if that hadn’t happened, I think I would have broken his spirit.
“I think that punch kept him fighting, made him believe he could do it again. That was a lesson for me.”
After that it was almost all Ramirez. The former title holder choked Barthelemy to death, hitting him inside and getting little in return. And he seemed more careful in delivering punishing blows, although Barthelemy still slipped some of them past Ramirez’s defense as the fight progressed.
An exhausted Barthelemy appeared to be on the verge of being stopped on Lap 11, after which Reiss warned him about the operation. The Cuban made a good effort in the final round to reach the finish line on his feet.
CompuBox’s stats tell the story. Ramirez landed 255 of 854 punches, Barthelemy only 112 of 439. Barthelemy had a high percentage of power punches (47.4%) but Ramirez outscored him nearly 2-1 in that department , 194 to 101.
Ramirez, who has not fought in 13 months, has fought just three times – all victories – since he lost the title to Josh Taylor by a close but unanimous decision in 2021.
He hopes to continue to be more active under new promoter Golden Boy in the future so he can prove that he is still among the best 140-pounders.
“I will fight anyone at 140,” he said. “I just want to be active. I don’t want to sit around. Regardless of Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions, my entire staff and team are on my mind, whoever it is, I’m ready to fight whoever it is.
“A fight like that, you don’t look your best, you’re still motivated in the gym and you become a different animal. That’s what I want to do.”
In the co-feature, 154-pound contender Vergil Ortiz submitted veteran Thomas Dulorme with a single blow to the body just 2 minutes, 39 seconds into a scheduled 12-round bout.
Ortiz, who just defeated Fredrick Lawson in the first round in January, has stopped all 21 of his opponents.
The fighters were still warming up when Ortiz landed a body shot, causing Dulorme to fall to the canvas in extreme pain. The Puerto Rican player was still down when the referee counted to 10.
The win sets up a meeting with former 154-pound titleholder Tim Tszyu on the Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov card on August 3.
Dulorme (26-7-1, 17 KOs), a former title challenger, has lost four of his past four fights.
