Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime – By Paul Strauss: Showtime came away with a exciting triple header tonight in Vegas. For a while there at the Palm Casino Resort , it looked like the main event between Guillermo Rigondeaux and Rico Ramos might fail to measure up; although. Rigondeaux did manage to drop Rico in the first round with a straight left. Thankfully, that ended the overly cautious nature of the fight up to that point, and hinted at some real excitement. Instead, Rico went from overly cautious into a fright and flight mode.
Fans expected Rigondeaux to step things up and close the show, but he stayed cautious, and failed to pressure his obvious advantage. Neither man used much of a jab, and the overall punch count was dismal. But, Rigondeaux stuck to his plan, and although it was less than fan friendly, he knew what he needed to do. He continued to use his right jab as a range finder, and then would unleash his big left hand. Ramos cooperated by moving to his right, which was right into the southpaw’s power.
The beginning of the end occurred in the sixth when Rigondeaux pressured Ramos into bent over posture to avoid the big left. Rigondeaux grabbed him with his right glove, and prevented him from moving. Then he uncorked a hard left uppercut to the body. Referee Joe Cortex stepped in with a warning for holding and hitting. Meanwhile Ramos moved back against the ropes and motioned to the back of his head to signify a foul. Clearly he was in distress. When Cortez allowed action to resume, Rigondeaux jumped all over Ramos, and forced him to back away.
Rigondeaux fired six straight lefts, mostly to the head, and then came the big shot underneath. It was another straight left to the right side of Ramos’ body. He crumpled to the canvas, and the fight was over. Officially, it goes down as a sixth round kayo at 1:26 minutes of the round.
Rigondeaux’s extensive amateur career (400 plus fights) is evidence of why someone with only 7 professional fights can win a world championship. Announcers Steve Farhood, Antonio Tarver and Al Bernstein were in agreement that Rigondeaux is ready for anybody, and because of his age (31), he should not waste any time. Maybe Nonito Donaire? Wouldn’t that be interesting!
The two undercard bouts brought all kinds of excitement. The first bout of the triple header showcased super flyweights Matt Villanueva against the southpaw Michael Ruiz, Jr. This was a substitute bout put together with only one week’s notice to both fighters. But, both guys were in shape and ready to go the full eight rounds if needed. They weren’t needed. Not quite. Villanueva throw tons of punches, and punished Ruiz, but Ruiz showed plenty of heart, and kept coming back to make it an interesting fight. Prior to tonight Villanueva hadn’t been past three, so there was a question about his ability to fight well for the distance.
In the lead in bout, 19 year old younster Joel Diaz was impressive in stopping Guy Robb. If you can be impressive in defeat, then that is what Robb managed to do. He took quite a beating, but in the interest of fair play, he managed to get Diaz in trouble more than once, and even dropped him in the second round.
However, as often is the case, the fighter who is a little faster, or hits a little harder, or whose punches flow a little better gets the edge. Sometimes, a less skilled fighter will just will his way through to a win, and that’s what Robb almost accomplished. He had a 10-8 round in the second, and then Diaz came back with a 10-7 round in the third. Excitement? You bet.
Robb must have folded after that, right. Wrong, he came back strong and probably took the next two rounds! Incredible heart! Now it was Diaz’ to deal with adversity. How was he going to do?
Through five rounds, the fight was probably even. Then Diaz came on again, and took the sixth, and then overwhelmed Robb with his attack in the seventh, which prompted Referee Vic Drakulich to step in and stop the fight. It might have been a bit of a quick stoppage at 2:20 of the seventh, especially considering the way the fight had ebbed and flowed up to that point. But, Robb was definitely taking a lot of shots. Regardless, it was excitingly brutal fight.