BoxRec

Jose Ramirez, the pride of California’s Central Valley, is ready for his world championship homecoming.

Ramirez, from Avenal, Calif., will make the first defense of his World Boxing Council (WBC) super lightweight title against former amateur standout and longtime contender Danny O’Connor on Saturday, July 7 at the Save Mart Center. Ramirez vs. O’Connor will be televised live on ESPN and ESPN Deportes beginning at 10:30 p.m. ET.

Undercard bouts, including appearances by top Central Valley prospects Bryan Lua and Isidro Ochoa, will stream on ESPN+ starting at 7:30 p.m. ET. Also appearing on ESPN+ in a six-round special attraction will be blue-chip prospect Gabe Flores Jr. of Stockton, Calif., who signed with Top Rank as a 16-year-old in November 2016, becoming the youngest fighter ever signed by the promotional company. This will be the first professional fight for Flores (7-0, 5 KOs) in California, who is also scheduled to fight on the Terence Crawford vs. Jeff Horn undercard June 9 in Las Vegas.



Promoted by Top Rank, in association with Star Boxing and Murphys Boxing, tickets to this world championship event, priced at $150 (floor), 90, $60, $35, $20, and $10, plus applicable fees, are ON SALE NOW and can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com, charge by phone at 800-745-3000, or at the Save Mart Center box office. For more information and box office hours, visit www.savemartcenter.com.

As a bonus, fans who purchase tickets to Ramirez-O’Connor will also receive a free voucher to attend the May 26 card at the Save Mart Center, a world championship doubleheader featuring 115-pound world champions Jerwin Ancajas and Kal Yafai in separate bouts.

Who? Wow, what a horrible fight. It's so bad that they're giving out awards just for attending .

Troyanovsky or John Molina should've been the pick. Neither dude has a fight lined up this year, and they're at least a name.

Top Rank set Ramirez up with a real patsie for his first defense.

O'Connor has ZERO chance and is just another undeserving title challenger.

Mohamed Mimoune (WBC ranked #6) called him out weeks ago. And he decides to fight some unranked Danny boy!!

Everybody under Arum, who isn't named Loma, seems to only be fighting cans. How many of them had title fights against African contenders you literally can't even find a video of? At least the last one suffered an upset. But you got their 168 lb champ fighting a complete nobody while ducking the WBSS, and you got Ancajas who they won't let fight on Superfly and who's team even tried to duck Jonas Sultan!

still less stinky then zurdos trash

Best Coast wrote: ↑17 May 2018, 00:05 Top Rank set Ramirez up with a real patsie for his first defense.

O'Connor has ZERO chance and is just another undeserving title challenger.

Typical Top Rank. You'd think being on ESPN, they'd attract more viewers, but the fights they've been putting on, bar any Loma fight has been shiit!

Official Article

Junior welterweight world titlist Jose Ramirez's first defense against Danny O'Connor was made official by Top Rank on Wednesday, and it's a fight Ramirez will go into with a new trainer.

Ramirez will square off with O'Connor on July 7 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, which is near his hometown of Avenal, in the main event of a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card (ESPN and ESPN Deportes, 10:30 p.m. ET).

But instead of career-long trainer Freddie Roach or Marvin Somodio -- Roach's assistant -- manning his corner, Ramirez will have Robert Garcia running the show after recently calling Roach to tell him he was making the change.

Ramirez (22-0, 16 KOs), the son of Mexican immigrants, draws sell-out crowds in California's Central Valley, where he has become popular not only for his ring exploits but also because of his impact on the community through his advocacy for water rights and immigration causes.

"It has been my dream to become a world champion. It's now my duty to defend this belt at home for my city, fans and everything I fight for," Ramirez said. "I'm blessed to have this opportunity. I dedicate this fight to the immigrants that contribute to and make our society a better place. I'm pro-immigrant and proud."

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑17 May 2018, 03:52 Official Article

Junior welterweight world titlist Jose Ramirez's first defense against Danny O'Connor was made official by Top Rank on Wednesday, and it's a fight Ramirez will go into with a new trainer.

Ramirez will square off with O'Connor on July 7 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, which is near his hometown of Avenal, in the main event of a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card (ESPN and ESPN Deportes, 10:30 p.m. ET).

But instead of career-long trainer Freddie Roach or Marvin Somodio -- Roach's assistant -- manning his corner, Ramirez will have Robert Garcia running the show after recently calling Roach to tell him he was making the change.

Ramirez (22-0, 16 KOs), the son of Mexican immigrants, draws sell-out crowds in California's Central Valley, where he has become popular not only for his ring exploits but also because of his impact on the community through his advocacy for water rights and immigration causes.

"It has been my dream to become a world champion. It's now my duty to defend this belt at home for my city, fans and everything I fight for," Ramirez said. "I'm blessed to have this opportunity. I dedicate this fight to the immigrants that contribute to and make our society a better place. I'm pro-immigrant and proud."

How does this trashbag get to defend against someone unranked? Oh wait, they just ranked him at #14 now just so Ramirez could fight this pile of garbage. He was unranked even when they announced the fight last week.

DA1 wrote: ↑17 May 2018, 05:07
How does this trashbag get to defend against someone unranked? Oh wait, they just ranked him at #14 now just so Ramirez could fight this pile of garbage. He was unranked even when they announced the fight last week.

Some promoters have a certain pull with certain ORGS. Arum has always had close ties with the WBO. He probably noticed O'Connor, he was probably ranked in the #20's, Arum gave WBO the word and said they're linked with him. BOOM!! WBO now rank him in the top 15..

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑17 May 2018, 03:52 Official Article

Junior welterweight world titlist Jose Ramirez's first defense against Danny O'Connor was made official by Top Rank on Wednesday, and it's a fight Ramirez will go into with a new trainer.

Ramirez will square off with O'Connor on July 7 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, which is near his hometown of Avenal, in the main event of a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card (ESPN and ESPN Deportes, 10:30 p.m. ET).

But instead of career-long trainer Freddie Roach or Marvin Somodio -- Roach's assistant -- manning his corner, Ramirez will have Robert Garcia running the show after recently calling Roach to tell him he was making the change.

Ramirez (22-0, 16 KOs), the son of Mexican immigrants, draws sell-out crowds in California's Central Valley, where he has become popular not only for his ring exploits but also because of his impact on the community through his advocacy for water rights and immigration causes.

"It has been my dream to become a world champion. It's now my duty to defend this belt at home for my city, fans and everything I fight for," Ramirez said. "I'm blessed to have this opportunity. I dedicate this fight to the immigrants that contribute to and make our society a better place. I'm pro-immigrant and proud."

Fight tomorrow night just announced as canceled.

It was supposed to be broadcast on ESPN.

O'Connor hospitalized with dehydration.

I wonder if he was running, trying to drop weight.

It's ungodly hot in California today. Temperatures in Fresno above 100 F.
Los Angeles at record highs for the date too.

Not certain if any boxing will be offered tomorrow by ESPN in the wake of the cancellation.

It wasn't expected to be very competitive. Some books had Ramirez as much as a 1-100 favorite.

Isn't this the same card as Ruiz vs Johnson? If so, maybe that will be elevated to main event and the card will be televised.

Ruiz vs Johnson is also expected to be a thorough mismatch if it goes ahead.

I heard.. shame..

Reports are that O'Connor was indeed trying to cut weight--reportedly at least 2 pounds---but became ill in the sauna.

Good. I hope Top Rank starts to learn their lesson and gives us seasoned, relevant pros. I just hope this fight isn't rescheduled. Ramirez needs to be fighting someone better.

There should be NO rematch. O'Conner needs to work his way back up and fight a couple of eliminators to regain a title shot opportunity after this fiasco. Very unprofessional.

on a side note, ramirez has or at least had some real bad face acne, surely thats got to make it sting more when your punched in the face