Jose Ramirez continues his resurgence at 140 lbs. following his defeat to Josh Taylor in their title unification. This past weekend, Ramirez defeated Richard Commey of Ghana at the Save Mart arena in Fresno, California. The ballot was a replacement after Jose zepeda was unable to compete. This bout was in action packed back and forth contest through its entirety as both men engaged in an interesting Clash of styles. In the end, Ramirez broke Commey down and knocked him out with a hook to the body.
There was an exciting round one featuing Ramirez’s left hook versus Commey’s right hand. Round two was filled with clinches, not the most exciting round. Round three saw some in close fighting head on the shoulder phone booth stuff with Ramirez going after the body. Commey looked to bring a right hand down the middle while he used very nice head movement.
Ramirez is a little heavy on his front foot, kind of hopping in when Commey backs up he sort of falls into him . Commey scored two big right hands in the fourth round, and Ramirez came back strong, targeting the body and doubling his left hand, hooks, and upper cuts. Perhaps taking lessons from Josh Taylor Ramirez would throw sneaky right hands inside when they would clinch possibly bending the rules. Feeling confident Ramirez ended the third and fourth rounds pumping his fist and ended the fourth throwing punches like a double end bag with speed down the middle.
Commey looked to begin wilting a little in round 6. He did score a right lead and a right off the hook but was largely isolated to slipping and trying to counter in spots. The jab became noticeably absent as Ranirez was able to March in unopposed. Commey came out jabbing in the sixth round, trying to keep range and set up shots. They both exchanged nasty right hands as Commey had a good round. Ramirez continued to pour it on, nothing fancy just fighting. He did not pump his fast after the round.
Round eight began well for Commey, who landed a crisp 1-2, a left hook, and another good right hand all within thirty seconds. Ramirez proceeded to then corner and hammer away at Commey, who obliged him by staying there. Ramirez was able to pin Commey down again but pawed the jab expecting a trap and avoided an exchange. Subtle footwork turns helped establish the body attack. Commey kept his hands home in the final minute, getting outworked.
Commey in the ninth round landed several hard right hands and a snappy jab. The final minute had a lot of clinching, with neither scoring much. This was one of Commeys’ more effective round scoring straight punches and nullifying Ranirezs aggression. In the tenth round, Commeys eyes began to show swelling from the difficult fight the two men had waged to this point. Ramirez began doing interesting doubles with a hook to the body, followed by a hook to the head with the same hand. The round ended as both loaded up on big haymakers.
A series of blows weakened the knees of Commey, who staggered forward and fell to the canvas. Commey rose in the corner allowed to continue by referee Jack Reiss. Commey clearly still rocked held and stumbled forward as the two went down and collided with the ropes. Commey smiled, but his body language showed a weakened man. Commey was game, however, as he exchanged with Ramirez. His mouth drooped as he stuck out his jab before a long left hook connected, sending Commey back. Ramirez Cornered his wounded foe and drew a right that he countered with a left hook to the body. A delayed reaction put Commey on a knee and down for the count.
With the victory, Ramirez advances to 28 wins with the lone defeat the Taylor. He is only 30 years old and is ranked number two by Ring magazine and is ranked in the top 10 of all four sanctioning bodies. It would appear that he would be destined to get a title shot soon, and he is a live dog against all of the belt holders. While he doesn’t have the most crafty style as far as footwork and defense, he is aggressive for all 12 rounds, has a potent offense, he attacks the body, and has crafty combinations and subtle footwork. As for Commey, his career reached its high point in 2019 when he won the IBF lightweight title against Ray Beltran, and that was the top of the mountain for him. Since then, he only has one victory, three losses, one draw, and two of those losses were by knockout. He has been a little bit of a Top Rank trial horse being brought in when the stars need a difficult fight he’s not the type of guy to spring the upset. So I do feel this performance should guarantee him another good payday and high profile fight
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