Former unified junior welterweight world champion Jose Carlos Ramirez 28-1 (18) got his career back on track with an 11th round knockout of ex-world title challenger Richard Commey 30-5-1 (27) at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California on Saturday night.
Ramirez, who held the WBC and WBO world titles before coming up marginally short to undefeated WBA and IBF champion Josh Taylor 19-0 (13) two years ago, was the better man on the night, stopping Ghana’s Commey, 36, late in the contest.
It was the 30-year-old Mexican-American’s first bout in a year after defeating Jose Pedraza on points last March.
The lengthy layoff took a toll, says Ramirez.
“It’s always hard after a layoff, but mentally I had to go back to being my old self and start strong,” he said. “There came a point in my career where I got too comfortable. I started with that rhythm and being active with my punches throughout the round. And I went back to my old self.
“I hurt him in the first round. But he’s a tough guy. Big shoutout to Commey and his team. He’s a good warrior. He took some good shots. And he picked it up in the middle of the fight, too. I heard his team motivating him. I wanted to make a statement and show that I’m the stronger guy in there.”
The plan for Ramirez is to be back in the ring by September.
According to CompuBox, it was only Ramirez’s greater connect in power punches that got him the win.
“Commey came out smoking,” they wrote in a media release. “Both landed thunderous power punches and it looked like Ramirez might take Commey out early.
“After six rounds, Ramirez held a 117-64 advantage in power punches landed. Ramirez was averaging 19.5 power punches landed per round.
“However, at that point, Ramirez’s work rate began to decelerate.
“Over the next five rounds, Ramirez averaged 11.8 power punches landed per round. It was beginning to look like Commey had used his jab and experience to grab control of the fight.
“Everything changed in the 11th round, where Ramirez scored two knockdowns, the last of which came courtesy of a body punch that put Commey down and out.
“In addition to a sizable power punches landed advantage, Ramirez also landed 54 more body punches than Commey.”
Ramirez insisted he wants to fight WBC champion Regis Prograis 28-1 (24) despite previously turning down a shot at the champion due to the 65/35 purse split against him.
“I want any world champion,” said Ramirez. “If Regis Prograis is serious about fighting, we can sit down and negotiate. Let’s sit down and make the fight.”
Dominican lefty Alberto Puello 21-0 (10) holds the WBA title while Puerto Rican Subriel Matias 19-1 (19) is the IBF kingpin. Former undisputed Scottish southpaw Taylor remains the WBO champion.
