"I don't like to talk and when I do, I'll do my talking with my fists, as I always have," Ramirez said. Many of those weren't even boxing fans when they began supporting Ramirez because of his efforts to improve the lives of those in his poor farm community. It's been a little more than a year and he's renewed and eager to show off for his most loyal fans. He fought more than 200 times as an amateur and was highly active as a professional. He'd been worn down mentally, not only by a portion of his fan base abandoning him but also by the rigors of the fight game. Ramirez said if he gets past Commey, he'd like to face Prograis in a pay-per-view bout, which would allow the purse to be larger.īut the key for Ramirez was getting his head on straight. Thus, Ramirez moved on to face Commey, a former world champion who has gone 1-2-1 in his last four bouts. "There's a minimum I have in my contract with Top Rank that in order for me to make what I get on my minimum with Top Rank, an offer would have to come in a $3 million-plus for that 35 percent to meet my minimum." I'm signing for 35 percent of what, really? "The WBC said there would be a 65/35 split, but 35 percent could be $35,000. "Probellum was just sitting there expecting offers, but they never once sent me an offer," Ramirez said. While it would be a sensational fight, Ramirez is a bigger draw than Prograis and he had no idea what the 35 percent would amount to in terms of his purse. After that, the offer was again extended to Ramirez to fight Prograis, with 65 percent of the proceeds going to Prograis' side and 35 percent to Ramirez. So Prograis wound up fighting Zepeda and won the WBC belt. Ramirez was offered the fight, but he was getting married and couldn't take it. That was a convoluted story: Taylor was ordered to defend his title against Jose Zepeda, but was getting married and pulled out. Ramirez has also had to deal with the backlash of a decision not to take 35 percent of the total to fight Regis Prograis for the WBC 140-pound title. Ramirez returns after a year's absence to fight Richard Commey while Estrada, the WBA minimumweight champion, fights WBC champion Tina Rupprecht in a unification bout. Jose Ramirez (L) and Seniesa Estrada appeared at an event at a Boys & Girls Club in Fresno, California, Wednesday. But when the people who were there for you and cheering you on after one fight abandon you after another, it messes with you." "It hurts to lose, of course, especially when you put so much of yourself into it. You have to do some digging, and some soul-searching, and find out who you are and remember what got me this far in the first place. But after the Taylor fight, I found that everything changes. People loved me after the (Maurice) Hooker fight. "The mental challenges athletes face a lot of times and have to find a way to deal with got me. "Trying to come back from that loss to Josh Taylor, it was different," Ramirez said. He fully expected to win that bout and it was hard to accept as he returned home, suffering the first defeat since the 2012 Olympics in London.īut losing to Taylor came as a shock: Many fans, though not many of his closest ones from California's Central Valley, abandoned him. All three judges had it six to six in rounds, but because Taylor scored two knockdowns, he won a unanimous decision by scores of 114-112 on all cards.Īnd that's when Ramirez learned a bitter lesson about the vagaries of boxing fans' loyalty. Olympian was a unified super lightweight champion, who made the short trip to Las Vegas on May 22, 2021, to fight Josh Taylor for the undisputed championship. He was, as he so often has, giving back to the poor community where he was born and raised and where he became a local hero as much for his kindness and caring spirit as for his estimable boxing skills.Īt his peak, the 2012 U.S. Jose Ramirez has long been one of boxing's good guys, and true enough, on Wednesday, just three days before he ends a one-year absence to return to the ring to face Richard Commey on Saturday on ESPN at the Save Mart Center, he made a public appearance at a local Boys & Girls Club in Fresno, California, along with WBA minimumweight champion Seniesa Estrada. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images) Former unified super lightweight champion Jose Ramirez returns to the ring on Saturday in Fresno, California, for the first time since a win over Jose Pedraza on March 4, 2022.
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