![]() But I see it as an opportunity to not only win an important fight, but to gain 15,000 new fans. ![]() When that bell rings, it’s just Jose and I in there and those fans can’t save him. “I believe in myself and I fight with all my heart. “Everybody asks me, ‘Aren’t you afraid going into his hometown in such an important fight,’ but I don’t understand that,” Reed said. Reed, whose nickname was given to him by an eighth-grade teacher who discovered his student was a nationally ranked boxer, is confident he’s going to go into enemy territory and deny Ramirez his dream. He’s 23-0 with 12 knockouts and is the kind of slick, smooth fighter Ramirez hasn’t seen in the pros. For me, though, I’ve been able to develop a pretty good following and I’ve been able to learn a lot, so I know that when this title shot finally comes, I’m fully ready for it.” You tend to get a little impatient, because you want things to happen, boom, boom, boom. “But things happened for a reason and here I am, a lot smarter and a lot more prepared than I would have been had this came earlier. “Coming out of the Olympics, I thought it would be three years, maybe four, before I got the title,” Ramirez said. It’s taken Ramirez longer to get to this point, but a win over Reed on Saturday will set him up to fight Amir Imam for the title. holds the IBF welterweight title and is considered one of boxing’s elite fighters. While Ramirez is 20-0 with 15 knockouts, he still hasn’t fought for the title or achieved the acclaim that many of his teammates have.Ĭlaressa Shields became the first American boxer to ever win back-to-back gold medals when she did it in London and then in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and she’s now a super middleweight world champion, as well as the face of women’s boxing.Įrrol Spence Jr. It’s been a long-time coming for Ramirez, who was regarded by many as the top professional prospect on the 2012 U.S. On Saturday, close to 15,000 will jam the Save Mart Center in Fresno as Ramirez faces Mike “Yes Indeed” Reed in a bout on ESPN in which the winner gets the shot at the vacant WBC super lightweight title. The community rallies behind him like it does behind few boxers anywhere in this country. Ramirez has become an A-level star in Fresno and the surrounding area because of his abilities in the ring and his eagerness to help outside of it. Even if they know something is right, they don’t want to do it a lot of times because they’re concerned about how it will impact career.” And then, you know what happens? They want to and so they don’t risk getting anyone upset, so they don’t do anything. If you say yes to this group, then that group is angry at you. So many of them stay neutral, because they’re afraid to make a group mad. “You know, I don’t know if politics works that way,” he said. He chuckled as he thought how to complete his answer. “I’m the type of guy, when I step up and say I’m going to do something, I do it with 100 percent and I don’t quit until I do what I said I would,” Ramirez said. Ramirez has little interest in getting into public service, though his rationale is hardly surprising. That comes, though, with one notable exception. He’ll do just about anything to help his people. He’s spoken out about immigrant rights, and he’s raised money for citizens who live paycheck to paycheck and can’t afford health care. Jerry Brown as part of the Latino Water Coalition. He’s lobbied for water rights for the drought-stricken residents of the San Joaquin Valley, traveling to Sacramento to meet with California Gov. Ramirez has fought for the rights of those he grew up with and around. It gave him a deep and abiding respect for the work his parents did and those who toiled alongside them. It was back-breaking, excruciating work, which he did from before sunrise to after sunset, before heading to his boxing training.
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