Abel Ramos’ last fight is living proof that it’s never over until the final bell.
Late-fight heroics on the part of the streaking welterweight contender produced a dramatic 10th round stoppage of Bryant ‘Goodfella’ Perrella this past February in Nashville, Tennessee. Ramos was trailing on all three scorecards heading into the 10th and final round, when he twice dropped Perrella in scoring a literal last-second stoppage win.
The feat extended his current streak to eight straight victories, along with positioning him for a secondary welterweight title fight versus Yordenis Ugas. That said, it’s also a moment he’d much rather prefer not have to replicate—nor even relive.
“It was nerve-wracking, even for me just to watch it back again,” Ramos admitted to BoxingScene.com. “It was nerve-wracking just to see it all unfold. I’m glad I was able to pull it off. The referee’s job is exactly what he did, look out for the safety of the fighters. He rescued [Perrella] that night and now here I am fighting for the title.”
This weekend’s opportunity versus Ugas—which headlines a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Fox primetime telecast from Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles (Sunday, Fox, 8:00pm ET)—comes as a direct result of what transpired that night. There is a working theory that the 29-year old from Casa Grande, Arizona was bailed out by referee Jack Reiss, who drew criticism for not allowing Perrella to continue with just one second left in the fight.
The counterpoint is that it is a timekeeper’s job to keep track of time and a referee’s job to police the action in the ring. Still, the sequence represents the closest that either party in this weekend’s fight has come to raising any sort of animosity in the pre-fight buildup.
Reiss was also the third man for Ugas’ narrow points loss to Shawn Porter live on Fox last March in Carson, California. Ugas continues to insist that he was denied a 12th round knockdown which—had it been ruled as such and scored accordingly—would have granted him the WBC welterweight title.
In that vein, the Cuban welterweight opted to take issue with Reiss’ performance in Ramos’ win over Perrella.
“I respect Ramos. He is a tough fighter that on Sunday we are going to have a great fight,” Ugas recently commented in a subtweet to the PBC on Fox account referencing Ramos’ last win. “But let's face it. He should never have won his last fight. Irony of life, this same referee decided my fight against Porter last year.”
To his credit, Ramos focused on the positive message that came from the statement rather than take issue with the most biting part of the message.
“I did see that post that Ugas made,” Ramos laughed off. “My brother actually sent it. It seems like he’s still mad about the Porter fight. He didn’t get the knockdown he thought he deserved. It was more shade at the referee—we had the same referee for both of those fights.
“Whatever it was, he has to fight me now.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
