By Jeff Aronow: Robeisy Ramirez weighed in at 125.1 pounds, and his opponent Adan Gonzales came in at 125.4 lbs for their six-round fight on Thursday night at The Bubble, MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Thursday night’s event on ESPN & ESPN Deportes will begin at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.
(Photo Credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank)
Although Ramirez-Gonzales is on the undercard of Jose Pedraza vs. Mikkel LesPierre, it’s the better fighter by a mile. There’s the revenge factor there for Ramirez, and it’s a crucial fight. For both guys, it’s essential. Gonzales can’t afford to lose either, as doesn’t want to end up as a journeyman.
Robeisy Ramirez looking to right the wrongs
Ramirez (3-1, 3 KOs) gets a second chance to prove his surprising 4 round split decision loss to Gonzales (5-2-2, 2 KOs) was just a fluke thing. Gonzales, 23, knocked the two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy down in the first round last August.
From there, Gonzales was able to hang onto his lead by throwing a lot of punches, most of which were picked off or missed.
Two of the judges saw it for Gonzales by the scores 40-35, 39-36, and the third had Ramirez winning 38-37. Boxing News 24 had Ramirez winning as well by a 38-37 score. He landed the better shots, controlled all four rounds.
Even in the opening round in which Ramirez was dropped, he still in command. The two of the judges that scored it for Gonzales did Ramirez no favors.
They scored the rounds based on Gonzales throwing punches and ignored the fact that he landed at a low percentage. Ramirez was connecting with the better shots and at a higher rate.
Ramirez with more time to break Gonzales down
This time, Ramirez will have six rounds to work on Gonzales, and the two extra rounds will likely lead to the Cuban fighter knocking him out. Gonzales looked badly overmatched when Ramirez took it out of first gear and started putting hands on him in the fourth.
Gonzales can’t take that kind of a beating from Robeisy for more than two rounds without being knocked out. The referee will be forced to stop the contest of Robeisy unloads on Gonzales the way he did in the fourth.
That was painful to watch. It was interesting to hear ESPN commentator Tim Bradley was high on Gonzales, and it was ignoring all the hard shots that Robeisy was hitting him with during the contest. He’ll be fun to see if Bradley gives Robeisy credit if he blows Gonzales out of the water on Thursday.
Pedraza weighed in at 143.9 pounds, and his opponent Mikkel LesPierre (22-1-1, 10 KOs) weighed in at 143,5 lbs. Pedraza and LesPierre will be fighting a 10 round bout in the main event.
Jose Pedraza needs a win
Pedraza, 31, is a former two-division world champion, who is fighting for the second time since moving up to 140 last September. He lost to Jose Zepeda by a 10 round decision in a fight that showed Pedraza is going to have difficulties in trying to win big matches. Pedraza previously captured world titles at 130 and 135.
Those were great weight classes for him, but he lacks the power to be competitive with the elite level fighters at 140. You can’t put Pedraza in with Jose Ramirez, Regis Prograis, Josh Taylor, and Zepeda and expect him to win.
Pedraza’s best chance for winning a title at light-welterweight is if he goes after one of the World Boxing Association’s three titles. With the WBA having a mess of belts, Pedraza can’t help but win one of them sooner or later. Of curse, that would make Pedraza a paper champion, but I’m sure he’ll still be able to sleep at night.
The 35-year-old LesPierre lost a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision to WBO 140-lb champion Maurice Hooker in March 2019. The fight wasn’t close, and it was hard to watch Hooke dominate the hapless LesPierre. Hooker won by the scores 119-108, 120-107, and 118-109.
For me, Ramirez vs. Gonzales is a much better fight. Robeisy, 26, has a lot of potential to make big things happen in his career if he works hard. In contrast, Pedraza (26-3, 13 KOs) has lost two out of his last three fights, and it’s not looking good for him right now. He doesn’t belong at 140, and it’s only going to get worse the longer he stays in the division.
Lespierre overmatched
Pedraza is a facing a no-name in 35-year-old Lespierre, and neither of those guys is going anywhere at 140. With Robeisy Ramirez, he’s capable of winning world titles someday, and he’s the fighter that Top Rank should be featuring. Pedraza is at the last chance saloon with his career, and can’t afford to get beat again.
If Pedraza struggles against Lespierre or if he loses, then he’s going to need to decide which direction he wants to go. A loss for Pedraza would make it academic that he doesn’t belong at 140. If Pedraza can’t beat a low-level fighter like LesPierre, then he needs to either move back down to 135 or 130 or retire.
