Gilberto Ramirez easily retained his World Boxing Organization super middleweight title, dominating challenger Habib Ahmed in a one-sided main event on Saturday.
Ahmed’s corner mercifully threw in the towel with 29 seconds left in the sixth round as their fighter was unable to fight back while being overwhelmed with body and head shots.
The southpaw Ramirez improved to 37-0 with 25 KOs as he defended his title for the third time since winning it from Arthur Abraham in 2016.
Ramirez said he was pleased to get his first win by a knockout in three years.
"This fight was really important,” Ramirez said. “We have been training for a knockout and we got it. I never felt frustrated. I kept moving forward at him and tried to hit the body.”
Ramirez suffered a cut above his left eye in the third round from an accidental head butt. His corner did a good job of closing the wound so it didn’t bother him for the final three rounds.
He came dangerously close to knocking Ahmed out in the fifth round, connecting on separate occasions with an overhand right, right hook and a driving right jab before the challenger was saved by the bell.
He was ranked fourth in the division despite almost 70 percent of his previous wins coming against boxers with losing records.
Ramirez already holds the distinction of being the first fighter from Mexico to win a title in the 168-pound division and now he’s setting his sights on unifying the different titles.
One of his goals if to fight the winner of the ongoing World Boxing Super Series super middleweight tournament. The two semi-final fights will see George Groves face Chris Eubank Jr. and Callum Smith take on Juergen Braehmer.
"I want to clean out the super middleweight division and unify the titles by facing all of the champions. I'm ready to go to Europe to challenge the World Boxing Super Series winner," Ramirez said.
"Also, I would very much like to fulfill my dream of defending my world title before all of my people from Mazatlan."
