Former light welterweight champion Jose Ramirez will face veteran Rances Barthelemy in the main event, while Vergil Ortiz Jr. fights Thomas Dulorme in the co-feature on DAZN on April 27th in Fresno, California.
Mike Coppinger reports that these two fights will be on the April 27th card along with former super featherweight champion Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz Jr. facing the recently knocked out Oscar Duarte.
Ramirez’s Return & Curious Matchmaking
This will be the 31-year-old former WBC/WBO 140-lb champion Ramirez’s first fight since signing with Golden Boy Promotions. Ramirez (28-1, 18 KOs) is coming off a 13-month layoff since his 11th-round knockout win over Richard Commey in March 2023.
There’s no word as to why Golden Boy Promotions is matching Ramirez against the 37-year-old former two-division world champion Barthelemy (30-2-1, 15 KOs), aside from his needing a tune-up after his year-long layoff. It’ll be just the third fight for Ramirez since his loss to Josh Taylor in 2021.
Vergil Ortiz Jr. Gets Another Soft Touch
What’s even more troubling is why is the 25-year-old Vergil Ortiz Jr. fighting Dulorme (25-6-1, 16 KOs), who is coming off a three-year layoff, and has lost three consecutive fights.
Dulorme, 34, last fought in 2021 and hasn’t won a fight in five years since 2019. Why is Golden Boy matching #1 WBA 154-lb contender Ortiz against Dulorme rather than one of the top 15-ranked fighters at junior middleweight?
Ortiz last fought in January, knocking out Fredrick Lawson in the first round. After that win, Vergil should fight a higher-level opponent, especially since he is the #1 contender for WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov’s belt.
JoJo Diaz’s Continued Struggles
Former IBF super featherweight champion Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz (33-5, 15 KOs) has lost four out of his last five fights, and hasn’t won since his 12 round unanimous decision victory over Javier Fortuna in July 2021.
In JoJo Diaz’s last fight, he was shockingly beaten by Jesus Antonio Perez Campos by a ten-round split decision last February. Campos came into that clash having lost five out of his last eight contests.
It’s pretty obvious that JoJo is washed at this stage of his career and needs to consider retirement. He’ll be facing Duarte (26-2-1, 21 KOs), who was knocked out by Ryan Garcia in the eighth round last December.