Unbeaten rising star Jesus Ramos Jr. delivered an impressive unanimous decision win over super welterweight contender Brian Mendoza in the FOX PBC Fight Night main event and on FOX Deportes Sunday night from The Armory in Minneapolis.
“I felt strong in there,” said Ramos (17-0, 14 KOs). “I have to go back and look at the tape and see what I did wrong, but I fought with a lot of energy. He caught me with some good punches early on, so I knew I was going to have to take my time with him.”
The upset-minded Mendoza (19-2, 13 KOs) had some success in the early rounds, using consistent movement to frustrate the 20-year-old Ramos and make him miss again and again. In round four, the southpaw Ramos began to change the tide of the fight and find a home for his dangerous left hand that he would rely on throughout the tilt.
“I started breaking him down and I started going to the body and touching him a lot more,” said Ramos. “He was a strong dude with a good team behind him. I knew he was going to come prepared and I liked the competitiveness he brought.”
Ramos kept his momentum going in the fifth-round, landing 19 punches, quickly doubling his output from any previous round. As the bout wore on and Mendoza wore down, Ramos continued to up his attack, landing 63 bruising power-punches in one-sided eighth and ninth rounds, according to CompuBox.
“He started to break a lot more as the fight went on,” said Ramos. “I was coming on really strong. I thought I might have been able to stop him in some of those later rounds, but he was motivated to go the distance.”
In his first fight at super welterweight, Ramos finished out the victory with a poised performance in round 10 to clinch the decision over Mendoza, with all three judges seeing the bout 98-92. Ramos’ strong finish ended with the Arizona-native owning a 141 to 53 edge in punches landed.
“Hopefully I’ll be able to get back in the ring once more this year and finish out strong,” said Ramos. “I’ll talk to my team and we’ll go from there.”
In the co-main event, unbeaten lightweight Starling Castillo (16-0, 12 KOs) earned a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Juan Carlos Burgos (34-6-2, 21 KOs) in their 10-round clash.
“We always train to go the whole distance,” said Castillo, who entered the fight with a four-bout knockout streak. “The hard work and everything we did in the gym showed up in the ring today. I was able to display my boxing ability and how I can fight well in the middle distance.”
Eight years younger than his opponent, Castillo looked to use relentless activity to overwhelm the 33-year-old Burgos. Castillo threw an astounding 671 punches during the fight, on his way to out landing his opponent 176 to 146.
Burgos nearly had a significant moment in round two, connecting with a huge overhand left that staggered Castillo before he was able to recover and maintain his footing. Burgos continued to press forward throughout the fight and sought to slow down his aggressive opponent through a steady body attack, landing 83 to the body compared to Castillo’s 22.
In a memorable final round, both fighters threw haymakers until the final bell, with each man landing numerous clean head shots and throwing and landing more punches than in any other round. After the final bell, all three judges favored the activity of Castillo, with scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94.
“I’m very thankful to my whole team for this opportunity to showcase my work tonight. We gave everyone a good fight today and I showed what I can do in the future. We’re always working hard and I’m always ready to face the best. I want the opportunity sooner rather than later, but whenever it presents itself, I’ll be ready.”
In the opening clash, Marcos “Madman” Hernandez (15-4-2, 3 KOs) won an entertaining action fight over previously unbeaten middleweight Armando Resendiz (12-1, 8 KOs) via unanimous decision after 10 rounds.
Late in the second round, Resendiz and Hernandez went toe-to-toe during a violent exchange, with both men landing punches. During the back-and-forth, Resendiz appeared to trip and fall to the canvas, but the action was ruled a knockdown for Hernandez by referee Mark Nelson.
Resendiz rose to his feet but was unable to break through offensively in a close action fight. The younger fighter came forward aggressively until the end, but it was Hernandez who consistently landed the sharper, more effective shots. Hernandez was able to put together a 132 to 128 edge in punches landed, despite being out-thrown 507 to 394, while also holding a 34% to 25% advantage in punch accuracy.
After 10 rounds, the most Resendiz has completed in any of his pro fights, all three judges saw the bout in favor of Hernandez, with scores of 97-92 and 96-93 twice.
“The key for me is that I’ve been fighting good opposition for my last 13 fights,” said Hernandez. “I’ve been fighting tough competition from the beginning. I’ve been going toe-to-toe with good prospects for a while and I beat one today. I’ve gone from prospect to veteran in a short period of time. I was definitely the biggest test that Resendiz had faced and it showed. If you fight me as your first test, it’s going to be a long night for you.”
The FS1 PBC Fight Night telecast prior to the action on FOX was topped by super middleweight contender Kyrone Davis (16-2-1, 6 KOs) winning a hard-fought unanimous decision over Martez McGregor (8-5, 6 KOs) after eight rounds with scores of 77-72 and 75-74 twice. Undefeated prospect Justin Cardona (6-0, 3 KOs) won a unanimous decision by the score of 60-54 three times in a six-round super lightweight bout against Jomar Robles (2-2, 1 KO), while unbeaten prospect Travon Marshall (3-0, 2 KOs) earned a knockout victory over Maycon De Silva (0-3) 1:03 into the second-round of their super welterweight clash. Opening the lineup on FS1, super bantamweight prospect Michael Angeletti (4-0, 3 KOs) stopped Alexis Salido (2-1, 1 KO) 2:24 into the third-round.
The event was promoted by TGB Promotions and Warriors Boxing.
