Jose “Tito” Sanchez returned in style from a 14-month layoff on Friday night, knocking out Jesus Ramirez in the sixth round in a junior featherweight main event from Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California. The time of the stoppage was 0:35.
Sanchez, of Cathedral City, California, was patient pressing forward in the first two rounds, as the fans chanted his name. Some drama occurred in the third round. Ramirez of Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico, rocked Sanchez with a left hook, followed by a flurry of punches to end the round. Sanchez, trained by Joel Diaz, came out unfazed in the fourth round, showing no signs of being hurt or fatigued from the clean shot that landed.
Sanchez, 26, would send Ramirez to the canvas in the fifth round with a right hook to the body. Sanchez would drop him again once he got to his feet with a series of left hooks. The two would exchange blows in the sixth round, as Ramirez looked to make one last stand. Sanchez landed a clubbing right hook followed by a left uppercut that sent Ramirez crashing to the canvas. The bout was called off once Ramirez hit the canvas.
“It means a lot, [after] a year off, giving this performance, it is a blessing,” Sanchez said in the ring after the fight when asked about the performance. “All the hard work we did paid off.”
The fight was Sanchez’s first since stopping Edwin Palomares in October 2024.
Sanchez improves to 15-0 (9 KOs) and said that he would celebrate with a meal at In-N-Out Burger, while the 30-year-old Ramirez dips to 23-5-2 (17 KOs).
