At the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, rising star Jesus Ramos Jr. (16-0, 14 KOs) won a unanimous decision over 2008 U.S. Olympian Javier Molina (22-4, 9 KOs) after 10 rounds of welterweight action.
"It was my second time going the distance and that's what we wanted,” said Ramos. “We love knockouts, but we're glad at this point in my career that I got the experience. I thank Molina for taking the fight, he's a great fighter.”
Facing his toughest competition to date, the 20-year-old Ramos imposed his physicality from the outset, peppering Molina with jabs and following up with hard left hands. Ramos mixed in shots to the body as the fight went on, holding a 68 to 11 advantage in body shots landed.
"I might have been looking for a knockout too much in the early rounds,” said Ramos. “I got used to it and I settled down and I felt like I was breaking him down little by little. He was trying to survive a little bit, so it made it harder to get the knockout.
"My father told me to invite him to come to me. We were pressuring him to start. My dad had me change it up. He came in a little bit, but then he backed off. That's how I tried to counteract his movement."
Molina found some success with counter hooks, although he was unable to seriously hurt his opponent. Referee Gerard White deemed some of Molina’s shots were hitting Ramos in the back of the head, and deducted a point late in the seventh round.
“I was sad because I lost, but this was a good fight against an aggressive opponent,” said Molina. “I couldn’t let him pressure me. The weight was a factor for me. I definitely felt the size difference”
Ramos held the overall edge in the punch stats and was the busier fighter throughout, out landing Molina 135 to 77. After 10 rounds, all three judges saw the fight in favor of Ramos, by scores of 97-92 and 99-90 twice.
"I learned a lot today,” said Ramos. “I'm going to keep building on that. I feel like I have a lot of momentum. It was a big step up for me and I feel like I showed a lot. I showed I have good conditioning and good movement along with my power.”
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