Photo by Golden Boy Promotions
On Golden Boy Promotions’ second edition of LA Fight Club, Featherweight prospect Julian Ramirez (14-0, 8 KOs) scored a unanimous decision victory over Raul Hidalgo (23-12, 17 KOs) at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles, California.
The 10-round fight headlined a card that was televised by Fox Sports 1 in the U.S. and marked Ramirez’s first fight as the main event.
Ramirez, 22, of East Los Angeles, California, was calm with his offense for most of the fight, but continued to dominate Hidalgo more and more as the fight progressed.
Ramirez looked for opportunities to land combinations, but instead found hooks to the body in Round 2 and looping left hands in Round 3.
After a much more relaxed Round 4, Ramirez slowly began picking up his offense until finally landing more shots to the body in Round 8.
The fight was at no point in Hidalgo’s hands, but it became more and more about how good Ramirez would look in this fight. Hidalgo’s constant clinching and constant movement in the middle to late rounds didn’t make things any easier for Ramirez.
“He was holding and the referee kept breaking us up. I wasn’t able to work the inside,” said Ramirez.
Ramirez, by Rounds 9 and 10, began seriously attacking Hidalgo, whose previous taunts had now been replaced by a bloody face that tried to look for counter opportunities on the relentless Ramirez.
Despite losing, Hidalgo was optimistic about his experience.
“I want to keep fighting the best. And Julian is one of them,” said Hidalgo, before stating that he’d continue to work hard in the gym in order to continue fighting the best.
Ramirez, despite the win, was aware of what he could have done better.
“I had a hand free and could have worked on the inside more,” said Ramirez.
[slideshow_deploy id=’37325′] Photos by Ismael Gallardo
Nevertheless, the young prospect knows his opponent had a lot of experience and that this fight was an opportunity to learn.
Ramirez will now look to stay busy during the rest of the year as he has his eyes on a title shot within the next two years.
In the co-main event, 2012 Olympic Bronze medalist Yamaguchi Falcao (5-0, 2 KOs) scored a four-round unanimous decision over Deartie Tucker (2-1, 2 KOs) in a Super Middleweight fight.
Falcao won every round, but struggled at times with Tucker, who lacked natural talent, but showed a lot of heart as he took an enormous amount of punishment in every round.
From the corner, Tucker’s trainer said that he took the fight on a day’s notice and that he normally fights at Welterweight.
Falcao, on his part, held nothing back about his performance.
“I’m happy about the win, but this fight surprised me. I couldn’t find my rhythm. I need to go back to the gym to train harder so that fans can see the real Yamaguchi,” said Falcao.
In a televised swing bout, Joet Gonzalez (9-0, 4 KOs) stopped Ali Gonzalez (6-6-1, 1 KO) in the second round of a scheduled six-round Featherweight fight.
“I was pumped for the fight,” said Gonzalez, about being able to fight for the first time on TV.
“It was my first time on Golden Boy Live and I knew I had to impress them,” Gonzalez continued.
The native of Glendora, California did indeed impress as he landed a powerful body shot from which Gonzalez could not recover. The fight was immediately stopped.
In the first televised fight, Brazilian amateur standout Everton Lopes (2-0, 1 KO) scored a quick first-round KO over Robert Seyam (2-3, 2 KOs) with a shot to the body that immediately paralyzed the Wichita, Kansas native.
Lopes, a two-time Olympian with over 200 amateur fights, scored the first knockout of his fledgling professional career.
[slideshow_deploy id=’37333′] Photos by JC Galvez/RBRBoxing
