Fighter of the Week 3/20-3/26: Jesus Ramos
On the most loaded week of boxing of 2023, picking the week's Fighter of the Week was no easy task. However, as president Reagan once said, there aren't always easy choices, but there are obvious ones. With that in mind, since we gave all credit to both the the22-year-old "El Mono" Jesus Ramos of Casa Grande, and Arizona, 23-year-old Joey Spencer for taking such a high-risk fight and putting their "0" on the line. As much credit as each fighter gets, Ramos gets twice the credit for the absolutely one-sided drubbing. He dropped, beat up, and beat down Spencer, forcing his dad to step in and throw the towel to save his son. Ramos picked up the biggest win of his career, moved his record to 20-0 (16), established himself as the future of the 154-pound division there's no longer a debate on that, and took home our Fighter of the Week Award.
In what was the most intriguing matchup of unbeaten. blue-chip prospects that we've seen in years. Ramos was in control from the very start, and the question was never in doubt. In a fast-paced start to the bout, A left hand from the southpaw Ramos put Spencer on the seat of his pants at the end of the opening stanza. Spencer got up and met Ramos in the phone booth as Ramos went for the kill, and they two slugged it out in the closing seconds of the first. The writing was on the wall. Ramos was too powerful, too strong, and too skilled for the two-time Prospect of the Year. He continued to bang away at the body, chopping Spencer down, keeping him against the ropes, and beating him down. The Arizona native was rocked in the fourth round, which momentarily paused his momentum, in what was the only competitive round of the fight. By the fifth, the Arizonian was back in complete control and again backed Spencer into the ropes and unleashed a whirlwind of hard thudding shots on the overmatched Spencer, who was just looking to survive. Spencer gave it one last shot to try and change the momentum and walk Ramos down. However, that it effort failed as well. A Ramos left hand buckled his opponent, and Ramos hopped on his badly wounded fighter and caused Spencer's father to step in and wave the towel.
If there were any questions about whether or not "El Mono" belonged, he answered that with a resounding yes!!! The one-sided beatdown of the two-time PBC Prospect of the year should propel Ramos to the top of the rankings in both the sanctioning bodies and in media rankings. That performance is the leader in the clubhouse for our "Performance of the Year" award; it was an A+, nearly flawless performance. It sets up Ramos for much bigger things in the second half of 2023. Fights with Brian Castano or Sebastian Fundora could very well come next. A win over that opponent, and there's only one more step to take. That's undisputed 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo. At 22 years old, Ramos may have already made himself the boogeyman of the division.