Former WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Jose Ramirez (29-1, 18 KOs) got a narrow escape after being hurt four times on Saturday before settling down to defeat former two-division world champion Rances Barthelemy (30-3-1, 15 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision at the Save Mart Arena in Fresno, California. The scores were 119-109, 119-109, 118-110.
Ramirez was dropped in round three after being badly hurt by a hard left hand by the 37-year-old Cuban Barthelemy. The referee, Jack Reiss, blew the call, ruling it a slip, but it was obvious that Ramirez was knocked down. While Ramirez was down, Barthelemy hit him a couple of times.
Ramirez was again badly hurt in rounds four and six from straight left hands from Barthelemy. In the 12th, Barthelemy hurt Ramirez again.
In rounds five, seven through eleven, Ramirez hit the tired-looking Barthelemy with shots at will. The referee, Reiss, was close to stopping the fight in the 11th after Ramirez landed a lot of shots.
Ramirez didn’t look like the fighter he once was years ago, and it looked like he’s no longer the fighter he was before his loss to Josh Taylor in 2021.
Undercard results
Vergil Ortiz Jr. (21-0, 21 KOs) made easy work of Thomas Dulorme (27-7-1, 17 KOs), scoring a first-round knockout at middleweight in the chief support bout. Ortiz Jr. placed a beautiful left hook to the body of Dulorme, folding him like a suit on the canvas.
Dulorme was way too hurt to get up and was counted out by referee Thomas Taylor. The contest was halted at 2:39 of round one. The 34-year-old Dulorme, who started his career at 140, didn’t look in great shape fighting at middleweight, and it was obvious that he didn’t belong in this weight class. Dulorme was knocked out in the first round by Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
With the win, Vergil Ortiz Jr. will fight Tim Tszyu next on August 3rd in Los Angeles. It’s going to be a tougher fight for Ortiz Jr. than his last two matches against veterans Dulorme and Fredrick Lawson.
It’s going to be interesting to see if Vergil Ortiz Jr. can handle the power and the ability of fighting one of the best fighters at 154. It’s too bad that Golden Boy didn’t match Ortiz against a better fighter tonight to get him ready for what he’s going to be dealing with on August 3rd when he gets in there with Tszyu.
“I didn’t think it would end this soon, but Ortiz is a technician, and he has a lot of power. Against Tim Tszyu, it’s going to be a war. I’m 1000% confident of my guy. You can’t sleep on Tim Tszyu. This fight here with Ortiz taking care of business will give him confidence. I guarantee you, Vergil Ortiz will knock him out,” said promoter Oscar De La Hoya.
“What I want to see from Jose [Ramirez] is that he comes out strong. I think Jose Ramirez, I think his body is going to act like we haven’t seen before, and hopefully, he gets a knockout,” said De La Hoya.
“In a bounce-back fight, light welterweight contender Oscar Duarte (27-2-1, 22 KOs) defeated former 130-lb world champion Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz (33-6-1, 15 KOs) in the ninth round. Duarte backed JoJo Diaz against the ropes and drilled him with a heavy barrage of punches to the head.
The referee finally decided he’d seen enough and stepped in to wave it off. JoJo Diaz’s trainer threw in the towel at the same time the fight was stopped. The official time of the stoppage was 2:32 of the ninth.
Duarte, 28, hurt JoJo in the fifth round with two hard lefts to the head. Diaz grabbed and held on, using his shoulder, which resulted in a warning from the referee. In rounds six through through nine, it was one-sided, with Duarte throwing heavy shots and wearing Diaz down like a battery.
In the ninth, Diaz was cut on the side of his left eye from some hard punches from Duarte. Where Diaz made a mistake is backing up against the ropes and shelling up. Duarte took advantage of this by teeing off on Diaz to get the stoppage. The defeat for Diaz was his first knockout loss of his career.
After the fight, JoJo Diaz said that he wasn’t hurt and that he didn’t understand why the referee had stopped the contest. He said he felt he was winning the round, which is hard to believe given how one-sided it was. JoJo Diaz then said, “I’ll be back.” The defeat for JoJo Diaz was his fifth in his last six fights since 2021.
Gabriela Alaniz (15-1, 6 KOs) was like a buzzsaw tonight, using her high-volume punching to defeat Marlen Esparza (15-2, 1 KOs) by a ten-round split decision to win the vacant WBA/WBC/WBO flyweight female titles. The judges’ scores were 98-92 for Esparza, 97-93, and 96-94 for the Argentinian Alaniz
2016 Olympian Raul Curiel (15-0, 13 KOs) obliterated Jorge Marron Jr. (20-5-2, 7 KOs) by a first-round knockout in welterweight action. Curiel immediately tore into Marron Jr., nailing him with hard shots and sending him to the canvas with a left to the midsection.
When Marron Jr. got back to his feet, he fled to escape Curiel’s hard shots. However, it was no use, as Curiel trapped him against the ropes and hit him with a left to the body that dropped him. The referee, Thomas Taylor, then counted out Marron Jr. The time of the stoppage was at the 1:31 mark.
DAZN Main Card
– 8:00 pm ET
– Jose Ramirez vs. Rances Barthelemy
– Vergil Ortiz Jr vs. Thomas Dulorme
– Oscar Duarte vs. Joseph Diaz Jr
– Marlen Esparza vs. Gabriela Alaniz
– Raul Curiel vs. Jorge Marron Jr
If Jose Ramirez, 31, is victorious tonight, his promoters at Golden Boy are interested in having him potentially fight Ryan Garcia next. That fight would have to be at welterweight, however, which makes it a long shot.
Ramirez, the former WBC/WBO light welterweight champion, has been inactive since March of last year, will fight for the first time since inking with Golden Boy, fighting former two-division world champion Barthelemy (30-2-1, 15 KOs) in the 12-round main event.
Unbeaten Vergil Ortiz (20-0, 20 KOs) fights Thomas Dulorme (26-6-1, 17 KOs) in a 10-round catchweight fight tonight. If Vergil, 26, wins, he’ll take on former WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu on August 3rd in Los Angeles, California.
Ortiz is coming off a first round blowout win over Fredrick Lawson last January, and he looks a lot better since moving up in weight from welterweight. That move was long overdue for Ortiz, as he was torturing himself to make weight.
Jose Ramirez (28-1, 18 KOs) heads back to the ring tonight against Rances Barthelemy in the headliner at light welterweight, while Vergil Ortiz Jr. takes on grizzled veteran Thomas Dulorme in the chief support at middleweight live on DAZN tonight at the Save Mart Arena in Fresno, California. The action starts at 8:00 p.m. ET. The Ramirez vs. Barthelemy ringwalks are scheduled 11 p.m. ET / 4 a.m. UK
