By Steve Kim
It's a battle of undefeated junior welterweights this weekend in Fresno, California at the Save Mart Arena as Mike Reed (23-0, 12 KO's) goes into enemy territory to face hometown favorite Jose Ramirez (20-0, 15 KO's) in a bout that will be televised on ESPN this Saturday night.
When Reed was asked to give his scouting report on Ramirez, he told BoxingScene.com - "no offense, he's a B-plus, defense he's like a D. And that's no knock to him, no knock to him, at all. I think he's an average Freddie Roach-trained fighter. He has Freddie Roach in his corner and like I said, it's no knock.
"Freddie Roach is a helluva trainer, hall-of-fame trainer but even as you look at Manny Pacquiao, Manny Pacquiao has always been an explosive fighter, weird angles."
And Reed says Ramirez is no 'Pac Man'.
"He's straight up and down, honestly, an average Mexican-American fighter. He just wants to break guys down. He's like, 'I'm going to out-punch you, I'm going to out-work you. I'm not going to worry about my defense,'" was how he summed up Ramirez's style.
Ramirez is a rugged grinder, who likes to apply pressure with a high volume of punches. But Reed considers him to be a one-dimensional boxer.
"To beat me you need a little more than just offense. I'm a complete fighter. The only knock on me is I'm small for my weight class,'' said Reed, who compared himself to Tim Bradley in that regard. "I've been small all my life so I've developed tricks to get on the inside with bigger guys."
Also on the card, the co-main event will feature top-rated contenders Artur Beterbiev (11-0, 11 KOs) and Enrico Koelling (23-1, 6 KOs) battling for the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) light heavyweight world title. Both fights will be televised live and exclusively at 10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN Deportes and stream live on the ESPN App.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.