Rigondeaux nails Ramos for title

Ringside by Anthony Springer Jr. & Andreas Hale
Photos by Chris Cozzone

Cuban boxing sensation and two-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux may have lulled fight fans at The Palms to sleep with several painfully tentative rounds against Rico Ramos, but he woke them up with a sensational sixth round knockout to claim the WBA super bantamweight title. The previously undefeated Ramos was overmatched from the outset as a cool, calm and calculated Rigondeaux waited for Ramos to over commit and drilled him with a straight left hand that stunned his foe and followed up with another left hand that sent Ramos tumbling to the canvas. Fortunately for Ramos there were only seconds on the clock.

Unfortunately for fight fans, the knockdown took the fight out of Ramos (20-1) as the Puerto Rican refused to engage in fear of being countered and hurt. The inactivity brought about loud boos from those in attendance -- including Floyd Mayweather and his entourage -- as Ramos respect could have been misconstrued as fear for his unwillingness to throw punches. Meanwhile, Rigondeaux remained calm despite the boos and heckles as he picked his spots, stayed in control and kept Ramos backpedaling. It appeared that we were in for a long night of posing and posturing until the sixth round when everything changed.

Rigondeaux nailed Ramos with an uppercut while holding the back of Ramos' head, which drew a warning from Joe Cortez. As Ramos tried to take some time to recover for the illegal punch, Cortez signaled for the action to restart and Rigondeaux pounced and his prey and ripped Ramos with power shots laced with bad intentions. The final punch was a hellacious left hook to the body that immediately sent Ramos sprawling to the canvas in pain. Cortez could have counted to fifty but there was no chance that Ramos was getting to his feet and Rigondeaux improved to 9-0 with his 7th knockout at the 1:29 mark.

"I never thought it would be easy," Rigondeaux said. "Everyone at this level is tough and I never take anyone lightly."

At the tender age of 31, Rigondeuax's record is quite deceptive as he has already competed in nearly 400 fights. With the victory, the highly decorated fighter has no desire to take another tune up fight and is anxious to take on the finest that the 122 lbs division can offer him. Afterwards, the Cuban sensation called out the likes of Nonito Donaire and Jorge Arce. Any other fighter with a 9-0 record may be laughed at for calling out a top shelf fighter like Donaire. But his wealth of experience could make either fighter an intriguing opponent. - Andreas Hale

Diaz Stops Robb In Exciting Fight

In a battle of the unbeaten super featherweights, Joel Diaz Jr. (7-0) won a thrilling 7th round TKO victory over Guy Robb (7-1) in the night’s co-featured bout. It was a rocky start for Diaz who was dropped with a short right hook in the second round. The Fresno fighter seemed to come alive after the knockdown. He finished the second with a flurry and never looked. Diaz returned the favor of the knockdown in the third. Two hard straight rights put Robb on the mat. He would suffer another knockdown later in the round, but it looked like an accidental slip. Nevertheless, Diaz would not be denied. He returned to the right hand throughout the bout and occasionally went to the body to keep Robb guessing. Late in the seventh, Diaz really stepped on the gas, backing Robb up with a series of power shots before the bout was halted. Time of stoppage was 2:20. - Anthony Springer Jr

Villanueva Smashes Ruiz

Matt Villanueva's height, reach and accuracy overwhelmed Mike Ruiz Jr. en route to a impressive 7th round TKO. Ruiz (8-2-1) proved that he could take a lot of punishment as the undefeated Villanueva swarmed his opponent with hard hitting combinations that rarely missed. After getting shredded and knocked down in the 2nd round, Ruiz' goal was to stay upright and he did the best job he could do. The Californian was relentless with his attack and came out in the seventh round incensed as he bounced combinations off of Ruiz' head at a freakish rate before referee Russell Mora mercifully halted the bout at the 1:04 mark. With the victory Villanueva improves to 7-0-1 with all of his victories coming by knockout. - Andreas Hale

Molina Earns Unanimous Decision

In welterweight action. Javier Molina (10-1) outpointed Albert Herrera in a unanimous decision win. Herrera was floored in the opening round with a left hook and never recovered. He pushed the pace for the remainder of the fight but was picked off coming in. The judges scored the fight 58-55 twice, and 59-54. - Anthony Springer Jr

Conjau Bests Hernandez

Razvan Conjanu and Rodney Hernandez engaged in a rather entertaining four round heavyweight tilt which resulted in Conjanu earning the unanimous decision with scores of 39-37 twice and 40-36. Both fighters slugged it out but Conjanu got the better of the exchanges and saw his record improve to 2-1. Hernandez falls to 1-1. - Andreas Hale

Abreu Upends Robinson

Yosmani Abreu (2-2) defeated Los Angeles fighter Marcus Robinson (4-2) via unanimous decision to kick off the evening. The Las Vegan overcame a slow first round that saw him rocked by a stiff overhand left. Maybe the power shot woke up the .500 fighter. Abreu came out noticeably more aggressive in the later rounds, mixing it up in the pocket with Robinson. The controlled aggression slowed Robinson considerably and he was backed up by a hard right late in the third. All three judges saw it the same way, scoring the bout 39-37. - Anthony Springer Jr.

Bonus shots