Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez debuted under the Golden Boy Promotions banner, and the Mexican ruthlessly despatched Sullivan Barrera via fourth round knockout in their Light Heavyweight meeting in Los Angeles on Friday.
Ramirez (42-0, 28 KOs) had seen a promising start to his career stall following promotional issues, but the former WBO Super Middleweight champion chalked up his third straight win at his new chosen weight in style.
Barrera (22-4, 14 KOs) has always been seen as a tough, gatekeeper type, and he had only previously been stopped once in the final round of a WBA title tilt against Dmitry Bivol in March 2018.
The first two rounds in this one were something of a scouting mission, with both men not landing much of note, but that all changed in round three, when a wicked Ramirez left hook to the body forced Barrera to visit the canvas in a delayed fashion.
The 39-year-old beat the count, but the end wasn’t long in coming. In the very next round, Ramirez repeated the trick from the previous frame, with a vicious left to the body once again felling the underdog in a delayed manner.
He again survived the count, but this time, there was no respite, and a flurry of power punches had the Cuban down and out as the contest was waved off.
The 30-year-old took to the microphone to call out the aforementioned Dmitry Bivol and ‘Zurdo’ remains a threat in the division.
Zurdo Ramírez finishes off Barrera with a vicious body shot. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/4vBURrGW1S
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) July 10, 2021
Diaz becomes WBC interim champion
Joseph ‘Jo Jo’ Diaz claimed the WBC interim Lightweight title, with a battling points win over Javier Fortuna, as the former IBF Super Featherweight champion catapulted himself into a mandatory position to challenge current WBC 135 pound boss, Devin Haney.
Diaz (32-1-1, 15 KOs) was cut in the third round against Fortuna (36-3-1, 25 KOs) and also had a point taken away for a rabbit punch a round later, but that deduction served to ignite the 28-year-old’s charge as he went on the attack in impressive fashion.
🗣️ “Let’s make this s**t happen baby, I’m ready.”
JoJo Diaz Jr. is ready for all the smoke at 135💥 pic.twitter.com/sHA191QVAd
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) July 10, 2021
Diaz finished strongly to get his hand raised by scores of 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112 and then called for showdowns with both WBC champion, Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia.
Estrada becomes two-weight titlist
Seneisa Estrada (21-0, 8 KOs) became a two-weight world champion, as she took the WBO Light Flyweight title from Tenkai Tsunami (28-13-1, 16 KOs).
🗣️ “We can get the rematch on in the parking lot right now too.”
Seniesa Estrada is not concerned about Marlen Esparza 👊 pic.twitter.com/VZHBtECJBn
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) July 10, 2021
One tally of 99-91, and two scores of 98-92, were enough for the Californian to become the new belt holder, in what was an entertaining affair.
Remaining undercard results
William Zepeda won the battle of the unbeatens at Lightweight, as he forced Hector Tanajara’s corner to withdraw their charge after the bell to end the sixth round.
The Mexican was impressive, and the sixth was a particularly torrid round for Tanajara (19-1, 5 KOs) and the decision to retire was a wise one as Zepeda (23-0, 21 KOs) took the vacant WBA Continental Americas title.
Sulem Urbina (12-2, 2 KOs) was unable to annex the WBA Flyweight title from Naoko Fujioka, as the Japanese took a majority points win to retain her crown. A drawn scorecard of 95-95 was overruled by verdicts of 96-94, and a way too wide 99-91, as Fujioka (19-2-1, 7 KO) made a third successful defence.
Two more ten rounders went the distance. At Featherweight, Bryan Chevalier (16-1-1, 12 KOs) took a unanimous win against James Wilkins (9-2, 6 KOs) and at Super Bantamweight, Azat Hovhannisyan (20-3, 16 KOs) pitched a near shutout against Jose Santos Gonzalez (23-9-1, 13 KOs)
Former world title challenger, Lamont Roach (21-1-1, 9 KOs) scored a second round knockout against Daniel Rosas (22-5-1, 14 KOs) and there were also second round knockout wins for Mihai Nistor (3-0, 3 KOs) and Sparkinson Wilson Castillo (15-0, 12 KOs) against Colby Madison (9-3-2, 6 KOs) and Miguel Contreras (11-1, 6 KOs) respectively.
At Featherweight, Gregory Morales moved to 13-0, 8 KOs with a six round points win over Rodrigo Guerrero (26-12-2, 16 KOs) and Lightweight debutant, Miguel Gaona (1-0) took a four round decision win against Gilberto Aguilar (0-3).
