Fight Week Recap: Joshua Wins, Ramirez Captures Featherweight Gold
Boxing's busy weekend kicked off in York Hall in London, England. Harlem Eubank, bruised, battered, and dropped a game but outmatched Miguel “El Gato” Antin over ten lop-sided rounds. Eubank put on a display of skill, athleticism, and footwork. He mixed in some sharp power punching from the outside. Moving his record to 17-0 (6). Eubank displayed excellent bodywork, dropping Antin with body shots in the sixth and seventh rounds. It momentarily looked as if Eubank could end the bout. However, he never went full throttle, and Antin survived the round. In the last three stanzas, Eubank flexed his speed and athleticism using the ring and his reflexes to score and keep away. The Brit ran out the clock on his way to a lopsided unanimous decision victory by scores of 99-89, 98-90, and 97-91.
The bigger cards took place on Saturday and in the main event of the weekend's "big one" former two-time heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua made his debut with trainer Derrick James a successful one. Perhaps in unspectacular fashion, AJ defeated a quality fighter by wide margins using his jab early on to build up a lead. A shotgun jab from AJ that was landing with the impact of power shots. AJ built up a lead as the fight progressed into the middle rounds as both fighters began to fatigue, and the fight moved more into the inside. As the fight changed the dynamic of the fight, changed very little. AJ continued to win competitive but clear rounds as he rolled to the unanimous decision victory by scores of 118-111 and 117-111 X2. AJ improved his record to 25-3 (22) and picked up his first win since 2020.
Also on the card was a litany of impressive undefeated prospects and contenders. Austin "Ammo" Williams moved to 14-0 (10) with an eighth-round stoppage of River Wilson Bent, whose corner was forced to throw in the towel in the eighth. Willaims dropped his man in the seventh with a left hand to the body early in the stanza. Ammo, a southpaw, stayed on the attack and continued to pour in left hands who were opening up and gunning for the stoppage. That stoppage finally came a round later in the eight as Ammo unloaded a right hand to the body that buckled Wilson-Bent and then poured in a barrage of left hands that forced Wilson-sBent corner to throw in the towel. Additionally, Galal Yafai and Fabio Wardley each scored fourth-round TKOs in step-up fights. Yafai stopped rugged veteran Moises Calleros to move to 4-0 (3), and Fabio Wardley moved to 16-0 (15) by stopping Michael Polite Coffie.
On the last Major card of the Weekend, Robeisy Ramirez got to the top of the mountain and captured the WBO featherweight title with an impressive and hard-earned win over former super bantamweight champ Isaac Dogboe. Ramirez made his highly anticipated pro debut in 2019 and lost to unknown opponent Adan Gonzalez. Ramirez was dropped in the opening round and was pretty much dominated over the four-round affair. One fight into his career the Cuban Gold Medalist was already considered a bust. Ramirez came back to dominate Gonzalez and win 12 fights in a row on his way to capturing the featherweight strap! There were difficult moments with Rafael Morales and Brandon Valdez, but ultimately the Cuban Gold medalist captured featherweight gold. Ramirez is now looked at as perhaps the 126-pounder in the world.
The card also featured an all-out brawl that was won by Joet Gonzalez via a unanimous decision over Enrique Vivas. Additionally, 20-year-old phenom Jahi Tucker took and passed the biggest challenge of his career. Tucker of Deer Park, New York, survived being rocked with a double left hook in the opening round by Nikoloz Sekhniashvili. Tucker rebounded and went on to control the fight with his speed and jab and rolled to a unanimous decision victory by scores of 77-74x3. The card also featured a KO of the year candidate from Abdullah Mason, the 18-year-old from Cleveland, Ohio moved to 7-0 (6).
