Undefeated American José Ramírez retained his World Boxing Council junior welterweight title by defeating Mexican challenger Antonio Orozco by unanimous decision.
The 26-year-old former American Olympian dropped Orozco twice in the first defense of his title in front of his crowd at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California.
Ramirez exhibited an improved jab, throwing more than 1,000 punches, although both fighters were kept busy from the first round to the final bell.
Ramirez improved to 23-0 with 16 knockouts as he decided to fight Orozco following the failure of his July clash against Danny O’Connor, who fell at the weigh-in after struggling to gain weight.
Orozco suffered the first loss of his career in his 28th fight. He came back from two knockdowns and didn’t win many rounds against Ramirez, but he showed he can hit and stay on the run.
Ramirez won the title that Terence Crawford vacated last year by scoring an impressive unanimous decision victory over Amir Imam at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Ramirez recently replaced trainer Freddie Roach with Robert Garcia, considering that the former did not pay enough attention to him, while Garcia promised to make him a priority of his team of fighters. AFP