Rico Ramos Defends Title against Cuauhtemoc Vargas
At the Tachi Palace casino in Lemoore, California on July 23, a world title will be decided when Beibut Shumenov defends his WBA light heavyweight title against mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Uzelkov at a specially-designed outdoor arena. However, the fight fans watching at the arena or on television might be in for the most fireworks before the bout as the undercard could have the best fight of the night.
Headlining the undercard is Rico Ramos (16-0, 9 KOs), who will be defending his WBO NABO Youth super bantamweight title against Mexican fighter Cuauhtemoc Vargas (15-3-1, 10 KOs). It’s a class fight between two boxers heading in opposite directions in their career. Ramos is poised for stardom and a chance at a world title shot. Meanwhile, Vargas is looking to use a national television fight to turn around his once promising career.
Ramos might be the top super bantamweight in the United States and his rise through the division is good news for those in boxing who would like to see a star fighter emerge who could help to carry interest in big super bantamweight cards in America. Ramos was an excellent amateur fighter, winning the 2007 United States PAL championship and finishing second to Raynell Williams at the 2007 United States Amateur Championships. He was an alternate for the 2008 Olympic team but decided to turn pro rather than train with the team ahead of their fights in Beijing.
Ramos is not the most powerful fighter within the division. Instead, he relies on his excellent speed and boxing instincts to overwhelm his opponents. That’s what he did against Cecilio Santos in March when he used a plethora of punches (usually coming in combinations) to eventually earn a fourth round knockout. The same pattern applied in his last bout when he knocked Reynaldo Lopez down twice en route to a comfortable eight round unanimous decision in April.
The fight on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights this week will be Ramos’ chance to showcase his abilities in front of a national audience of fight fans. In Vargas, he’ll be fighting a desperate opponent who is in serious need of an upset victory to turn around his suddenly sagging career prospects. Vargas was 14-0-1 before meeting Tomas Villa in October 2005 for the WBC Continental Americas super bantamweight crown. Vargas was stopped in the eighth round of that fight for his first career loss and things went downhill from there. He split his next two fights before taking a three-year break beginning in 2007.
He came back to professional boxing this May for a bout against Jesus Ruiz in Mexico City for the interim WBC Latino super bantamweight title. He was unsuccessful in his return bout, losing a 12-round decision. On the surface, it might appear that he is mainly cannon fodder for Ramos and a stepping stone for the undefeated prospect as he looks to move on to bigger and better opponents. However, Vargas has shown some promise in the past and he was attempting to shake off three years of ring rust in his bout against Ruiz. It’s now or never for Vargas, and Ramos should expect to square off against a very motivated opponent with some power.
This isn’t the first time that Ramos has appeared on Friday Night Fights – his bout against Santos was also a televised undercard fight. With a win against Vargas, Ramos will put himself into excellent position for a world title shot in 2011. One possible opponent could be Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., particularly if the WBO super bantamweight champion’s potential fight against Nonito Donaire later this year falls through.
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