By Francisco Salazar
Jose Ramirez will fight Tomas Mendez on July 9, Top Rank matchmaker Brad Goodman told BoxingScene.com in a recent interview.
The 10 round bout will take place at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, Calif., a short drive from Ramirez’s hometown of Avenal.
The Ramirez-Mendez fight will top a ‘Solo Boxeo Tecate’ card and will be broadcast on UniMas, beginning at 11 p.m. ET/ PT.
Ramirez (17-0, 12 KOs) is coming off a 10 round unanimous decision win over Manuel Perez on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley fight on April 9.
The 2012 U.S. Olympian is very popularin the San Joaquin Valley, drawing thousands to his fights in and around the Fresno-area. His December 5 fight against Johnny Garcia at the Save-Mart Center in Fresno drew a reported crowd of 12,000.
Ramirez is trained by Freddie Roach.
Mendez (21-7, 14 KOs) has lost two of his last three fights, both by decision to Evens Pierre and Eudy Bernardo.
The July 9 fight will mark the fourth time Mendez has fought outside of his native Dominican Republic.
In a non-televised bout, Andy Vences (15-0, 10 KOs) will fight Moises Delgadillo (15-15-2, 8 KOs) in an eight round junior lightweight bout.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
