Former featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez stole the show with a highlight reel seventh-round knockout over Brandon Leon Benitez on Saturday night at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida.
Robeisy was fighting on the undercard of WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez vs. Steve Claggett in a fight televised on ESPN. It was the first fight back for the talented Cuban Ramirez since losing his WBO 126-lb title last December to Rafael Espinoza, and he showed that he’d retooled his game, looking nothing like he had in his loss to the 6’1″ Mexican fighter.
Robeisy spent the entire fight with Brandon Benitez (21-3, 9 KOs), fighting him on the inside, connecting with short shots, and blocking the punches fired back from the highly-ranked fighter.
Benitez took a lot of punishment in the fight, with his nose bleeding and eyes swollen by the fifth. He needed to be pulled out of the fight by the sixth round because he was getting beaten up, and he wasn’t competitive.
Robeisy reverted to his old amateur style in the sixth, standing at mid-range, bending forward, smiling and landing potshots, and blocking the punches that Benitez fired back.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy (14-0, 9 KOs) landed an uppercut in the seventh round that caught Benitez under the chin, dropping him flat on the canvas. The fight was waved off at the 2:46 mark.
Robeisy could now face Rafael Ramirez in a rematch to attempt to avenge his loss and recapture his WBO title. Robeisy must win the title because Naoya Inoue is expected to move up to 126 next year, and that belt will be the perfect pawn for him to use to get a big-money fight.
With the way Robeisy fought Benitez, it seems he plans on fighting the tall Espinoza on the inside to take away some of the leverage he gets on his punches. He could knock him out if Robeisy can take some of the power on Espinoza’s shots. He had him hurt in their fight last December, dropping him in the fifth, but he let him off the hook.
