By Jake Donovan
Fresno, California - Jose Ramirez brought more than 10,000 at Selland Arena in Fresno, California for his scheduled eight-round showdown with David Rodela.
Not a single fan in the sold-out venue felt cheated by only seeing their local favorite for less than a minute's worth of ring time.
A bout that was threatening to evolve into a competitive scrap ended in a hurry, when a counter left hook put Rodela down and out just 50 seconds into the opening round.
Ramirez had only fought at home once before in his career, scoring a second round knockout of Jesus Selig in May. The reaction to the unbeaten welterweight, who represented the U.S. in the 2012 London Olympics, prompted Top Rank to find a way to once again set up shop in Fresno.
The turnout strongly suggests that Ramirez will be back home soon enough. Perhaps next time his fans will get a long enough glimpse of him in the ring.
Rodela came out acting as if he wanted to make a fight of it. Action was quick develop from the opening bell, with both fighters digging in and trading along the ropes. Rodela saw openings and did his best to get his opponent's attention, but Ramirez was fixated on delivering for the hometown crowd.
A left hook to the body followed by an uppercut sent a message to Rodela that a world of pain was coming, the combination landing shortly after Rodela scored twice upstairs with left hooks. As action shifted from the ropes to center ring, Ramirez uncorked a left hook upstairs for the bout's lone knockdown, barely 40 seconds into the contest.
Rodela (17-10-3, 7KOs) was crumpled on the canvas and hunched over in pain, clearly with no intention of beating the referee's count. The Oxnard (Calif.) native was counted at 0:50 of round one.
Ramirez picks up his fifth win of the year as he improves to 12-0 (9KOs). The most important fight he continues to win, however, is in exploring more water resources for a drought-riddled California, particularly in his hometown of Avenal, California.
The community of 14,000 - most of whom are Latino farm workers - was hit hard when its sole source of water from the federal government nearly ran dry. Ramirez has been championing a cause to unearth additional water sources to prevent the farmers from facing unemployment and poverty.
With that campaign came the idea for Ramirez' hometown showcases to represent more than just a boxing event. The 'Fight For Water' series (Saturday's show serving as the third installment) has proven highly successful, raising major awareness to a dreadful situation, and for an area of the world that would otherwise go largely ignored.
His time spent behind the scenes serving his community has been well worth the price admission for his paying patrons, something kept in mind when early nights such as this arise.
UNDERCARD
Heavyweight contender Andy Ruiz Jr. picked up his ninth straight stoppage, drilling hapless Kenny Lemos in the opening round of their televised co-feature.
The amount of flesh in the ring had the makings of a clubfight, but Ruiz Jr. has long ago established himself as a heavyweight on the rise. Lemos learned this lesson the hard way, showing an early willingness to engage, but quickly changing his mind after absorbing an overhand right about 30 seconds into the contest.
From there, Ruiz Jr. went ballistic, while Lemos all but shut down. A body shot led to the bout's lone true knockdown, with Lemos opting to take a knee after taking a shot to the bread basket. The Denver native beat the count, but absorbed a world-class beating for as long as the rest of the bout lasted.
Ruiz Jr. never bothered to go back downstairs, although it wasn't necessary. Right hands and left hooks landed upstairs with frightening regularity. Lemos (12-9, 8KOs) could only take the pain, bravely staying on his feet but absorbing serious punishment without offering any return fire, prompting the referee to intervene.
The official time was 2:18 of round one.
Ruiz cruises to 23-0 (17KOs) with the win, just his second of 2014. The California-based Mexican heavyweight was due to headline a show in August, but was forced to withdraw in order to tend to a seriously ill family member. The short ending in Saturday's affair could see the unbeaten contender return to the ring in mid-December, a month where Top Rank is loaded with shows on HBO and UniMas.
It's been a year to forget for local featherweight Luis Ambrosio, who was extended the distance in each of his past two bouts and now has suffered the first loss of his career. The latter came courtesy of a right hand shot at the hands of Marcello Gallardo, who scored a minor upset with a 3rd round stoppage in their swing bout.
The pairing featured an odd streak of the two fighters coming off a combined three draws in their most recent appearances. Ambrosio was held to a four-round draw in his last fight this past April, while Gallardo saw each of his past two bouts end in a tie, including a four-round affair with Gary Salazar in this very arena in May.
Gallardo made sure to take the judges out of the equation in this fight. A compact right hand while the two were at close quarters landed squarely on Ambrosio's chin, depositing him to the canvas. The Fresno-based featherweight beat the count, but his response (or lack thereof) upon the referee's observation prompted an immediate stoppage.
The official time was 1:32 of round three.
Gallardo shakes loose a three-fight winless streak, improves to 4-1-2 (1KO). The pair of draws were prececed by a four-round points loss in his home state of Washington, but ends the year with a bang.
Ambrosio suffers the first loss of his career, falling to 4-1-1 (3KOs).
An entertaining super welterweight scrap between Michael Finney and unbeaten Wilkins Santiago ended in a six-round stalemate.
The bout marked a massive step up in competition for Santiago (11-0-2, 1KO), who built up his record feasting on meager competition in the Pittsburgh/Ohio/West Virginia area. However, the Ohio native more than held his own against Las Vegas-based Finney, who hadn't fought since March when he suffered the lone loss of his career.
Scores were 58-56 Finney, 58-56 Santiago and 57-57 even. Finney (12-1-1, 10KOs) is now winless in his last two starts.
Junior middleweight prospect Danny Valdivia (5-0, 4KOs) scored a first round stoppage over Saul Benitez (3-7-1).
All bouts aired live on UniMas' Solo Boxeo Tecate series.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
