Rico Ramos vs. Erik Ruiz Set For March 11 in Las Vegas

By Francisco Salazar

Former junior featherweight world titleholder Rico Ramos will face Erik Ruiz in a clash of Southern California combatants on March 11, matchmaker Keith Veltre told BoxingScene.com.

The 10 round bout will take place at the Downtown Las Vegas (Nev.) Event Center, across the street from the D Hotel.

Ramos (26-5, 13 KOs) knocked out Prosper Ankrah in round three of his last bout on September 24. He has won three of his last four bouts.

The 29-year-old Ramos won the WBA 122-pound title in July of 2011, knocking out Akifumi Shimoda. He would lost the title six months later in his first world title defense against Guillermo Rigondeaux.

Ramos resides in the Los Angeles area.

Ruiz (16-5-1, 6 KOs), who resides in the boxing hotbed of Oxnard, has fought some of the top junior featherweights in boxing with mixed results.

Ruiz fought Daniel Roman in September of 2015, losing by unanimous decision. Less than two months later, Ruiz defeated then-unbeaten prospect Roy Tapia by split decision over eight rounds.

On May 6, Ruiz, who is trained by Robert Garcia, fought to a split decision draw over 10 rounds against Horacio Garcia, a fight many at ringside thought Ruiz did enough to win. In his last bout on September 30, Ruiz defeated fringe contender Hanzel Martinez by majority decision.

Also fighting on the Roy Jones Jr. Promotions card will be Randy Moreno (8-0, 7 KOs) and Stephon Young (16-0-3, 8 KOs) in separate bouts.

All three fights will air on CBS Sports Network.

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 (Calif.) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing