Friday Night Fights was live from the Little Creek Casino Resort in Shelton, Washington this week with a decent nights’ worth of action. In the main event of the evening, former WBA World super bantamweight titlist, Rico Ramos (21-3, 11KOs) dropped a wide decision to the unheralded 32 year-old Mexican, Oscar Gonzalez (21-2, 14KOs).
Ramos reportedly had trouble making the contracted weight and came in one half of a pound over the limit; an undisclosed monetary sum was paid to Gonzalez to go ahead with the scheduled ten rounder.
Both men stayed behind high guards in the early going, tentatively feeling out each other in the first few rounds. Ramos throwing in decent and varied combination to both the body and head of the Mexican; Gonzalaz content in playing the stalking role to Ramos’ back-peddling style.
By the third round, Oscar Gonzalaz was showing off some impressive head movement in dodging early flurries by the former champion. Some hard hooks crashed home for the underdog from Mexico City as he chased Ramos into the ropes several times and found a sweet spot for his hard left hooks in Ramos’ rib cage.
An increasingly injured Rico Ramos began to regularly smother his own work in an effort to avoid further punishment from the Mexican who was steadily gathering momentum, however, a great two-punch left hook combination sent “Suavecito” Ramos down hard in he sixth with only twenty seconds remaining in the stanza. The California native managed to beat the ten count but climbed on his bicycle and peddled as fast as he could in order to survive the round.
The rest of the bout was more of the same as Ramos showed the world that he could easily hang up his gloves and take a job as a professional track star. The 25 year-old back peddled and used his serviceable lateral movement the rest of the match to try and avoid confrontation with the aggressive Gonzalaz, only occasionally landing anything of note. Ramos often found himself pinned against the ropes absorbing more punishment as the night drew to a close.
The judges’ scores were 98-91, 96-93 and 97-93 all for Oscar Gonzalaz. The Boxing Tribune had it somewhere in the middle at 96-93.
On the undercard, Oscar Molina (4-0, 3KOs) took on Daryl Gardner (1-2, 1KO) in a scheduled four rounder. Action began as both men bounced on their heels and felt each other out for the first few moments. Things ramped up quickly, though, as Molina rapidly began to look sharp, displaying good hooking technique and excellent poise.
The 23 year-old from Chihuahua, Mexico caught Daryl Gardner with a hard left hook and followed it up with a nice flurry, catching the wild 31 year-old with some fantastic shots. Molina landed another great body shot to set up a two-punch combination that put Gardner down. The Washington native managed to beat the count but was clearly out on his feet. Another right handed bomb to the body softened up the injured man and a further punishing right-hook to the body, right-hook upstairs sequence put him down a second time and the referee waved it off towards the end of the first.
Also on the undercard, Ray Lampkin (3-0, 1KO) overcame Landon Horseman (1-1) inside of the scheduled four rounds. The southpaw, Lampkin, enjoyed a huge advantage in speed and power over the relatively green Horseman.
The 25 year-old from Yakima, Washington was the taller and rangier fighter but was unable to capitalize on his gifts as quick flurries by Lampkin Jr. seemingly threw him off his game plan. Lampkin easily dodged the reaching punches of Horseman, and showed decent counter-punching technique as he swarmed the taller man with accurate, hard and varied shot selection.
In the second round, Landon Horseman landed a Hail Mary on the visibly excited and wide swinging Lampkin which made him touch his glove to the canvas. Lampkin took the standing eight count and returned to battle, fighting his way back into the fight but still taking the occasional hard shot from the rangy Horseman.
By the end of the second round Lampkin took back control of the fight and began landing assorted blows to both the body and head to the progressively wobbly Horseman.
In the third frame, a devastating hook to the body of the gangly Horseman put him out of commission and Lampkin, displaying good killer instinct, finished off the wounded fighter; Landon Horseman was forced to the canvas and was unable to continue. The official time of the stoppage was 1:48 of round number three.
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