WBC champion Jose Ramirez delivered a series of devastating punches against WBO champ Maurice Hooker to bring their unification bout to a sudden end in the sixth round via TKO on Saturday night at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.
It was two hard lefts to the head that knocked Hooker off balance and into the ropes.
Trapped and unable to properly defend himself, the WBC champion kept swinging until referee Mark Nelson stopped the scheduled bout.
“It was a good stoppage. I was hurt,” Hooker said. “I will be back. This isn’t the end for me.”
Ramirez improves to 25-0 with 17 knockouts with the win which marks his third title defense. Hooker drops to 26-1 and it was also his third title defense, the first at home for the Dallas native.
Ramirez started coming forward at the opening bell. Hooker stumbled against the ropes within the first 30 seconds of the bout and went down shortly thereafter. A closer examination seemed to reveal that Ramirez might have stepped on Hooker’s feet, but it was still ruled a knockdown, nonetheless.
Both fighters continued to go toe-to-toe in the first two rounds with each landing solid shots in the second. However, Ramirez was able to pin Hooker against the ropes where the referee had to step in between them.
The third and fourth rounds ended with both fighters exchanging punches and having to be separated by the referee at the bell.
The great action continued in the fifth round with more hard exchanges. Hooker appeared content to rest on the ropes for stretches which was concerning throughout the fight. However, his boxing helped him steal what was otherwise a very close round.
By the sixth, the fighters had taken their war to the middle of the ring, but Ramirez had the upper hand.
He soon unloaded a big lashing left hook that stunned Hooker, and followed up finishing him with a barrage of punches to remain undefeated and become the unified WBC and WBO super-lightweight champion of the world.
While Ramirez’s stoppage was emphatic, the fight was close throughout although Hooker trailed for most of the bout largely due to the early controversial knockdown.
At the time of the stoppage, Hooker was at least down on two of the three judge’s scorecards before he got caught.
Hooker was not pleased about the way he fought.
“I feel like I beat myself,” said Hooker, who felt like he was getting back into the fight before the ending flurry. “It’s going to haunt me.”
Ramirez certainly appeared to be the stronger fighter and found much success in backing Hooker up and pinning his man on the ropes.
Both fighters certainly proved that they are world-class, but it is Ramirez who can look forward to bigger challenges most likely against the victor between WBC champion Regis Prograis and IBF titleholder Josh Taylor in the WBSS Tournament.
Problem is that no official date for this other unification bout has been set so we could see a lengthy delay before these fighters are positioned to completely unify the 140-pound division.
