WBO Super Middleweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (38-0, 25 KOs) made the fourth successful defense of his title against stiff hitting Colombian, Roamer Alexis Angulo (23-1, 20 KOs) in Top Rank‘s main event bout in Oklahoma City.
Ramirez looked to continue his reign as one of the kings of the Super Middleweight division. His opponent, Angulo had never stepped into the ring with a fighter of the caliber of Ramirez and looked to prove his unbeaten record was no fluke.
OKC fans were treated to a real bloodbath in the co-feature bout between Alex Saucedo and Lenny Zappavigna, which left everyone wanting more in the main bout. Unfortunately, it was a tough act to follow. The bout opened with both men looking to establish a jab and get a feel for one another. Ramirez began to control the action with the stiffer blows but nothing that really stunned his opponent Angulo.
Ramirez saw himself on the wrong end of a flush one-two combo provided by Angulo that put a grin on the champion’s face, as if to say, he felt that one. Pressing forward, we saw a lot of the same action but nothing spectacular or exciting to get the crowd back into a frenzy.
Ramirez landed the occasional hook or straight left that thudded enough to get reactions but overall the fight was fought at a moderate pace with Ramirez finding the better of the Colombian.
Entering the championship rounds, it appeared that Angulo would really have to dig deep to find something in his arsenal to stop the champion. Ramirez had begun to pick up his pace and began to up his output of punches to close the show. The fight came to a close and the Oklahoma crowd booed in disappointment as the fight did not deliver the action they had hoped for.
“He was undefeated. He came with a lot of hunger to try to take away my world title,” said Ramirez. “I’m still a world champion. I want to go back to the gym to start training and evolve as a fighter. I want to unify titles and I want to be one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world.”
The champion prevailed and won a unanimous decision victory with scores of 119-109 twice and 120-108, respectively. Not the fight the fans wanted but a defense none the less for Zurdo Ramirez.
The question now remains, will Ramirez find himself against the likes of top 10 fighters at 168 or a unifying bout with fellow Latin champion David Benavidez.
Photos by Mikey Williams/Top Rank
