Rafael Espinoza says he has improved from his previous fight against former WBO featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez last year on December 9, and will be ready to defeat him a second time this Saturday, December 7 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
(Credit: Top Rank)
Espinoza (25-0, 21 KOs) will defend his WBO 126-lb title he won against two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy (14-2, 9 KOs). The event will be shown live on ESPN and ESPN+ at 10:30 pm ET / 7:30 pm PT.
The fight was very competitive until the 12th, when Espinoza reeled in a tired Robeisy to quit to win a 12-round majority decision.
No excuses
“When I’m in the fight, I like to decide what I’m going to do and adjust to it. I do things so I don’t get hurt so much. I try to box and not get hit and leave everything in the ring,” said Rafael Espinoza to Sean Zittel. channelreacting to being told that Robeisy Ramirez said he wants to land his shots between his combinations on Saturday.
“Sometimes I like to go ahead to get the results I want to push on the gas. I have to try to do everything intelligently in the ring,” continued Espinoza. “I don’t know what happened to him, but I expect the best version of Robeisy. I want the best version, and I don’t want excuses. I will also try to give the best version of myself.”
Espinoza is going to be hit hard in this fight, and he’s going to hope that he can take the power out of Robeisy because he was close to being knocked out in the fifth round after being dropped. It was lucky for Espinoza that the fight came in the last seconds of the round.
“I have improved a lot since the first fight (with Ramirez) in all areas, physically with my strength. I have worked on the mistakes I made to be able to do things flawlessly. There are still no distractions, and my mentality is at the top. So, in the first fight, I didn’t give up, and in this second fight, that word doesn’t even cross my mind,” said Espinoza.
We don’t know if the 6’1″ Espinoza has improved since his win over Robeisy because he has only fought once against the heavily beaten Sergio Chirino Sanchez, stopping him in the fourth round on June 21st. Unfortunately, we won’t know if Espinoza has improved until he faces Robeisy this Saturday night.
Robeisy says he wasn’t at his best for the previous fight against Espinoza because his father was in the hospital, and he wasn’t prepared. This time, I believe he will be ready and have the right game plan to defeat Espinoza.
“I don’t like to say if I’m going to knockout because these words are blowing in the wind. So, what I’m going to do is give my best fight so there’s no doubt what’s going to happen. I’ve been in this division for a I’m fine. It all depends on my body. If I can stay in this division, it won’t be a problem,” said Espinoza .
If Espinoza stays at 126, he will end up exceeding this weight class and start suffering losses. It might be better for him to move up to 130 while he is still fighting at a high level because he can take advantage of the money that would be available to fight WBO super featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete. There is a winning fight against WBC champion O’Shaquie Foster.
