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Undefeated Prospects Barnett and Ramos Both Score Knockouts
San Jose Ca. By:
Jeff Townsend, (BASD) Boxing and MMA Writer
The early rounds saw them fighting at a slower pace than the previous fights of the evening. Barnett is a very skilled fighter with fast hands, a good body attack and a good jab. However, Cruz kept his hands high for most of the early rounds which did not give Barnett too many opportunities to land clean punches. This caused the early going to be more of a tactical fight, with Barnett focused on getting punches through Cruz’s defensive posture. Barnett was able to land some good body shots while clearly winning the early rounds on the scorecards. Barnett started to use his jab less frequently in the third round and allowed the fight to be fought on the inside. Cruz did land a solid left hook to Barnett’s head near the end of the third round but he was not able to follow it up with anything else of substance. The fourth and fifth rounds saw Barnett punish Cruz to the body since Cruz continued his tight defense, keeping his hands tightly around his head. Barnett had opportunities to work his jab and create angles but he seemed to content to work on the inside. Barnett came out for the sixth round with a more aggressive style and was able to send Cruz to the canvas due to a barrage of punches midway through the round. Cruz’s body seemed to flop to the canvas due to the hard punches. Barnett could sense that Cruz was hurt and ended up landing several hard right hands to Cruz’s head. The referee stepped in and stopped the fight at 2:50 of the sixth round, giving Barnett a TKO win.
In the co-main event of the evening, super bantamweight up-and-coming prospect Rico Ramos (6-0, 4 KOs) was showcased in a six round match-up against opponent Alvaro Muro (6-9, 5 KOs). Ramos has a great deal of natural talent and boxing skill which was apparent from the opening bell. Ramos has very fast hands and will throw jabs at varying speeds. Sometimes he will throw two quick jabs and then move away, sometimes it will be one quick jab followed by a hard right hand and then other times he will use a jab to set up a body shot. This is a very effective strategy since it keeps his opponent from ever really knowing what is going to come his way. Ramos used the first round to establish his jab and began a punishing body attack. Ramos would dip to either side to unleash a vicious body shot which would slowly wear Muro down throughout the fight. A left hook to the body is probably Ramos’ signature punch which he began to use very effectively starting in the second round. In the third round, Ramos landed a short left hand to Muro’s head which sent him to the canvas. Muro was clearly hurt but made the count. Ramos jumped on him and landed a hard left uppercut that sent Muro down again. The referee stopped the fight at 1:42 of the third round, giving Ramos a TKO win.
Gil TKO’s Jason ‘JP’ Peterson
Halfway through the second round, Gil landed a hard right hand. He followed that up with a few more punches, forcing Peterson to take a knee. Peterson spent the final minute of the round attempting to stay away from Gil by clinching or boxing. Both fighters landed some good shots in the third round. By the fourth round, Gil seemed to figure out that Peterson was vulnerable to being hit with right hands and landed several hard right hands to Peterson’s head midway through the round. With Peterson on the ropes and slightly slumping over, Gil unleashed a barrage of punches on the now-helpless Peterson. The referee was forced to stop the fight at 1:15 of the fourth round. Peterson showed a lot of heart and determination against a tough opponent that a lot of other fighters would have avoided.
Eric Garcia Scores Four Knockdowns On His Way To His 2nd Victory Salinas-based Eric Garcia (2-0-1, 1 KO) punished Marco Arauz (3-6-2, 1 KO) over three rounds until the referee mercifully jumped in and stopped the fight in a scheduled four round bout. Garcia knocked down Arauz in the first round, again in the second round and then capped that off with two more knockdowns in the third round. Despite the fight being billed as a welterweight (147) clash, Garcia weighed in at 150 while Arauz came in at 155, five pounds heavier than Garcia and one pound heavier than the junior middleweight (154) limit.
Soto Convincingly Decisions Topoz In the opening bout of the night, Alberto Soto (1-1) won a unanimous decision in a four round featherweight fight against Juan Topoz (0-1) who was making his pro debut.
Attendance was 2,793 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California for American Metal & Iron Fight Night at the Tank. |
Email Jeff with questions or comments at jtownsend@bayareasportsdrive.com
