For welterweight contender Abel Ramos, of Casa Grande, Arizona, being at Desert Diamond Arena wasn’t so much about getting so-called home cooking from the judges, because he appeared to be the rightful winner against previously unbeaten Tahmir Smalls.

For Ramos, 28-6-3 (22 KOs), it was also about feeling the energy that lifted him to a decisive rally in his 98-92, 94-96, 97-93 split decision victory.

Following a career-long pattern of gut-wrenching decisions, including his 2024 draw with former titleholder Mario Barrios, Ramos said, “Man, I had that feeling again,” as the scorecards were read Saturday.

Yet this one went his way because Ramos had his way in the second half of the bout.

“It went exactly how we expected,” Ramos said in the ring. “We had this game plan from the beginning, getting inside, hitting him to the stomach. He was very strong at first, but then later on …”

Ramos had been out of the ring since that November 2024 draw with then-welterweight belt holder Barrios on the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson card.

“I thought I’d get the rematch,” Ramos said before the fight. “But then [Barrios] got the [Manny] Pacquiao fight. No regrets. I’m just happy to be here, fighting again.”

Ramos, the uncle to middleweight contender and Premier Boxing Champions stablemate Jesus Ramos Jnr, showed early rust to coincide with the tentative start by Philadelphia’s Smalls, who leaned into his jab.

In the fifth, Ramos backed Smalls with a power right to the head, inspiring him to pursue more fervently and throw more heavily. He then found Smalls with two rights to the head.

Smalls, trained by Bozy Ennis, responded with more activity in the sixth and landed some clean rights to spark Ramos’ response.

With the outcome appearing to hang in the balance, Ramos aimed power blows at the body and pressed forward in the seventh.

Smalls looked hurt off a right in the eighth, and the pair mutually engaged to close the round.

Like he did against Barrios, Ramos unleashed a wealth of punches late, repeatedly weakening Smalls in the ninth with brutal body shots.

“I’m hoping this win will get me another title shot,” Ramos said. “I want Ryan Garcia.”

Earlier, the DAZN opener was a highly spirited split draw between Arizona state junior featherweight titlist Jordan Martinez and Mexico’s unbeaten Arturo Cardenas.

The judges scored it 98-92 Martinez, 96-94 Cardenas and 95-95.

“I know better than to leave it to the judges,” said Martinez, 16-0-1 (15 KOs). “I’ve taken my losses [in life] to get here, but to sell out in this fight in front of this crowd is all I wanted.

“We can run it back, for sure.”

Phoenix’s Martinez rode the wave of local support on the “west side” of town, aggressively stepping toward Cardenas and landing blows to the head and body of the Robert Garcia-trained fighter.

Cardenas, 17-0-2 (9 KOs), responded by pounding Martinez with the heavier blows, a thunderous right to the head in the third and a power combination in the fourth.

Martinez answered with increased activity, and there was no give in either as the second half beckoned.

After an action sixth, Martinez strode to his corner to see ringside broadcaster and legend Julio Cesar Chavez Snr urging him to throw combinations of uppercuts.

Martinez maintained the pressure as Cardenas sought to duck out of it and set up power shots that he delivered in the seventh.

“I never underestimate my opponents. I knew he’d come in here with a lot of hunger,” Cardenas, 25, said.

A telling exchange – that both men were here for all of this – went down in the eighth. Martinez absorbed the harder blows but walked away smiling and nodding agreement with Cardenas over the bout’s high quality.

Following the ninth, Martinez blew a kiss with his glove to promoter Eddie Hearn, who laughed in appreciation.

“Boxing is all about the fighters and the fans,” Hearn said in the ring interview afterward. “Phoenix, you want to run it back?”

When a cascade of cheers descended upon him, Hearn grinned and delivered a there-you-have-it shrug.

Another local, 140lbs fighter Trini Ochoa, and Mexico’s Oscar Alvarez Guerrero warmed the crowd with an action-packed eight-rounder won by Alvarez Guerrero, 79-73, 79-73, 78-72. 

It was the first loss for Ochoa, 21-1 (9 KOs).

The final round evolved into an all-out brawl as each fighter landed head-jarring blows, inspiring the crowd to its feet and receiving a hearty post-fight round of applause sent by none other than Chavez Snr.  

Southpaw bantamweight Phillip Vella, 5-0 (2 KOs), staggered Brayan Ramos with a hard left in the first round and then unleashed a flurry to hurt Ramos and back him to the ropes in the second.

Mexico’s Ramos, 8-8-1 (2 KOs), responded by scoring effective counterpunches, but Vella’s chin and the force of punches shined as he captured victory by three 60-54 scores.

Dallas’ Hector Beltran, a developing 154lbs prospect from the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy, flashed his power punching and varied talents by cruising to a unanimous decision triumph over Peru’s Cesar Diaz by three 60-54 scores.

The 20-year-old Beltran, 7-0 (5 KOs), hammered the body of Diaz, 10-2 (5 KOs), in the first round, rocked him with hard lefts to the head in the second, delivered a vicious uppercut in the fourth and then wobbled Diaz with a combination in the sixth. 

Welterweight Rahman Muhammad, 2-0 (2 KOs), of Las Vegas, opened the card with a second-round stoppage of Mitchell McFadden, 1-1 (1 KO).

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.