Julian Ramirez Ready To Put on a Show in Cancun

by Francisco Salazar

Back on April 7th, I covered a Golden Boy Promotions fight card at the Phoenix Club in Anaheim.

After Ronny Rios won an eight round unanimous decision over Guillermo Sanchez in the main event, a southpaw by the name of Julian Ramirez climbed into the ring to face Salvador Cifuentes in a scheduled four round bout.

Within 80 seconds from the opening bell, Ramirez had dropped Cifuentes twice and the fight was over.

Ramirez made a fan that night the way he has made fans across Southern California and abroad in his short career: my Dad.

“Me gusta como pelea el (I like the way he fights),” said my 84 year old Dad, who has seen a fight or two in his day since the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. “Se faja y tiene peque (He gets down and has a punch).”

That is pretty much how media and fight fans see Ramirez, who will fight Aaron Olivares on Saturday night in a scheduled six round bout at the Grand Oasis Resort in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico. The bout will be televised on Fox Deportes in the United States and on Televisa in Mexico.

Even the 19 year old Ramirez (7-0, 5 KOs) who resides in East Los Angeles, admits that he has that mentality to go in for the kill early in every fight.

“Well, I do try to go out and knock guys out,” Ramirez told Boxingscene.com earlier this week over the phone. “When I spar some of the contenders and champions out there, I know I hurt them and all. But, then I get hit sometimes and I learn from that.”

While that attitude may or may not somewhat reckless or could set Ramirez up for disaster later on in his career, it has worked so far as a professional.

But then again, there are those boxing fans who like relentless pressure and knockouts, something Ramirez brings to the table.

Ramirez does know how to box, sets up his punches well, has decent hand speed, and sits down on his punches. Although one would think Ramirez may get tired for putting his foot on the gas early in the fight, he does not believe it will slow him down.

“Actually, I have sparred eight and 10 rounds before,” said Ramirez, who is managed by Joel De La Hoya and promoted by Golden Boy Promotions. “I was sparring 10 rounds against Scott Quigg when I trained in England. I didn’t get tired at all."

An admitted gym rat, Ramirez watches a lot of videos from his fights or other fights to learn from.

It could pay off in the short and long run as he would like to fight six to eight times in 2013. Saturday's fight marks his second time fighting this year.

Although success has come early and often to Ramirez, he does not want to get ahead of himself.

"I try to remain humble and not get big-headed. Being promoted by Golden Boy is surprising, but I've worked hard in the gym and I've gotten to where I'm at because of it."

Although it is early in his career, Ramirez has reaped from the hard work he has sowed. If he is successful throughout 2013, do not be surprised to see him fight in 10 round fights before the end of the year.

Fight fans have become enamored with Ramirez so far. It could be a point where fight fans may have the same opinion of Ramirez like my Dad.

However, instead of saying, "That guy hits hard," fight fans could say, "There goes a future champion."