Jose Ramirez walked away with the win against fellow former world champion Rances Barthelemy on Saturday, April 27. The pair battled it out in the main event live from Save Mart Center in Fresno, CA.
The former unified super lightweight champion of Avenal, California defeated two-division world champion of Cuba by unanimous decision. After 12 rounds at welterweight, one judge scored the fight 118-110, while two other judges had 119-109, all in favor of the representative of the country-host.
Jose Ramirez successfully made his 2024 ring debut. The 31-year-old improved to 29-1, 18 KOs and secured his third straight victory.
Las Vegas-based Rances Barthelemy dropped to 30-3-1, 15 KOs. The 38-year-old former IBF super featherweight and lightweight champion went through the ropes for the second time this year.
“I felt great coming in, overly excited. I showed some good skills,” Ramirez said post-fight. “I dominated most of the rounds. There was only one round where he could’ve scored a knockdown, but a lot of the fight he didn’t throw a lot of punches and he got overly excited. I think that was my mistake for being distracted in that moment of the round and keeping him in the fight. Overall, I’m just thankful I got the win.”
In the co-feature on the card, undefeated Vergil Ortiz Jr (21-0, 21 KOs) of Grand Prairie, Texas eliminated Puerto Rico’s Thomas Dulorme (26-7-1, 17 KOs) in the first round at super welterweight. In his next fight on August 3 in Los Angeles, the 26-year-old knockout artist faces Australia’s former world champion Tim Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) on Crawford vs Madrimov undercard.
Among other results, Mexico’s Oscar Duarte (27-2-1, 22 KOs) stopped former world champion Joseph “JoJo” Diaz (33-6-1, 15 KOs) of South El Monte, California in the ninth round of their 138 lbs catchweight bout. As well, Mexico’s Raul Curiel (15-0, 13 KOs) retained his NABF welterweight belt by knockout in the first round against Jorge Marron Jr (20-5-2, 7 KOs) of Lakeside, California.
Plus, Gabriela Celeste Alaniz (15-1, 6 KOs) of Argentina avenged her sole career defeat and took revenge on Marlen Esparza (14-2, 1 KO) of Houston, Texas. With the victory by split decision, she reclaimed her WBO flyweight title and landed the WBA and WBC belts. The scores were 92-98, 97-93, 96-94.