Robeisy Ramirez says he will be at his best on Saturday in his rematch with Rafael Espinoza and reclaim his WBO featherweight title in their clash at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. This fight belongs to the Cuban Robeisy (14-2, 9 KOs) who returns to where he should be at the top, holding the WBO belt, and facing the other champions at 126.
Can Espinoza repeat?
Ramirez wasn’t supposed to lose to 6’1″ hard-hitting Espinoza in their fight last year on December 9, but he wasn’t in the best shape. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy wasn’t 100% and slipped down the stretch. In the 12th round, he took a knee due to fatigue while being attacked by Espinoza.
Fatigue caused Robeisy to lose by a 12-round majority decision by the scores:
– 113-113
– 114-112
– 115-111
Although Ramirez is not at his best, he could have easily won by KO in the fifth round, because he dropped Espinoza. When the Mexican fighter came back, he collapsed into the ropes. Normally, referees stop a fight when a fighter is in that condition, but this referee allowed the contest to continue. Espinoza an accidental champion, and would not be in most cases.
The round ended before Robeisy could jump on Espinoza to finish. In both cases, it was luck on Espinoza’s part for him to make it out of the fifth. It was his luck, but he cannot survive the rematch on Saturday night because Robeisy will attack him relentlessly as he did in the fifth. There is no referee who will save Espinoza this time.
“Back to where you belong”
“The reality is that I was not the best version of me, and I was still able to give a great show, and so the second fight will be better,” said Robeisy Ramirez to Sky Sportstalking about his fight against Rafael Espinoza last year on December 9th.
“I’m going to the place where I’m supposed to be.” I have not seen losses. In the last round he didn’t land a punch which put me in a bad position. I went down, if you see the replay, I went down from being tired,” continued Robeisy.
“Now I have to recover my title, and I will be ready to unify against any of the champions that are there. There is no problem to fight any of them.”
