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Ramirez focused on Benitez after putting aside “family issues”.

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Robeisy Ramírez enters Saturday’s fight with Brandon Leon Benitez without fear of his father’s death.

The 30-year-old Cuban and Benitez are fighting at the James L. Knight Center in Miami Beach in their first fight since December, when he lost his WBO featherweight title to Rafael Espinoza by majority decision.

Benitez, 26, is a Mexican native like Espinoza, but is a lesser-known opponent after perhaps the most hard period of Ramirez’s career.

Not only was this defeat the most significant that Ramirez had experienced – he lost a four-round split decision to Adan Gonzales in his professional debut, and won a unanimous decision against him four fights later; Espinoza has also been linked with a lucrative fight against Naoya Inoue – coming as he was paralyzed by concerns about his father’s health.

Ramirez had no such concerns in the build-up to Benitez, but it was when he tried to focus on Espinoza – Ramirez was the favourite that night – that his father’s condition and distance from him in Cuba weakened him and, he believes, ultimately contributed to his second defeat.

“It’s not really a secret,” he said. “My father was ill before my fight in December and for political reasons I couldn’t go to him or lend a hand him in Cuba, so I wasn’t really focused on the fight and only thought about the worst. and maybe that he was going to pass or [I] she won’t be able to see him one last time. This weighed heavily on me before the fight and that’s why I wasn’t myself.

“I wasn’t really focused on the fight and I wasn’t focused on what I had to do. During the training camp, preparing for the fight, I was going through a hard time personally, but also with my family, so I wasn’t focused on the fight. In addition, family problems and lack of support from my family didn’t allow the training camp to develop the way I wanted.

“Break [before accepting the Benitez fight] was necessary. My training camp [for Espinoza] It was very strenuous – physically and mentally – so I had to take a break, but thank God we’re back.”

Ramirez, who is based in Miami until he joins his trainer Ismael Salas in Las Vegas to prepare for the fights, was asked how he has spent his time since his loss to Espinoza, who stopped Sergio Chirino Sanchez earlier in June, and he replied: “ I tend to take real breaks between fights. When I’m not at training camp, I don’t think about boxing. I just focus on everyday things. When I go back to camp, that’s when I focus on boxing again.

“I spend time with my family; time with my wife; time with my daughters and I stayed at home [in Miami]. It was necessary to rest and spend time with family to be ready for what would happen next.

“Thank God, everything is fine now. We have made an effort – the situation is not good, and we have made an effort to send medicines to Cuba and so on [my father] needed. My wife was able to get into the country; she was able to travel and get him all his medications, and thank God she’s fine now.”

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Boxing

Sebastian Fundora is the fighter to beat at 154, says Tim Tszyu

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Seven months after losing to Sebastian Fundora, Tim Tszyu described the unified WBC and WBO junior middleweight champion as a man he can beat at 154.

Twenty-nine-year-old Tszyu from Australia lost a split decision to replacement Fundora at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, surrendering his WBO belt in the process. The 26-year-old Fundora took advantage of Tszyu’s devastating second-round injury to claim a 115-113, 116-112 and 116-112 split decision victory.

Talking about his wealth of talent at the age of 154, Tszyu refused to acknowledge Fundora as the best junior middleweight, but believes he currently holds the titles needed to be considered the best.

“Man, the 154-pound division is heated right now,” Tszyu said in an interview with BoxingScene. “Names are popping up everywhere. There are belts all over the place, so it’s good to be in this division now.”

In addition to Tszyu, the junior middleweight division is currently loaded with plenty of talent, including Terence Crawford, Fundora, Israil Madrimov, Vergil Ortiz, Serhii Bohachuk, Brian Mendoza and Erickson Lubin, among others.

When asked who in the talent pool he wanted to face, Tszyu said he was open to fighting anyone at 154 pounds, but chose Fundora as the first option on his list. Tszyu also has plans to gain weight in the future.

“If everything presents itself and everything falls into place, then yes, of course. Why not? It all depends on the current situation. Changes in boxing. It’s like a fighter losing and then being next in line. That’s all. You can’t really predict the future much. It’s arduous.

“It’s very heated at 154 at the moment, so I’ll stay here. Fundora already has the belts at the moment, but no, I don’t think he’s the best.”

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Stephen Fulton is a mandatory WBA fighter for Nick Ball

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Image: Stephen Fulton is Nick Ball's WBA mandatory

WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball (21-0-1, 12 KOs) has a tough mandatory challenger in Stephen Fulton next for him after a grueling tenth-round knockout victory Saturday night over Ronny Rios (34-5, 17 KO) at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.

Former WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion Fulton’s boxing skills will be a gigantic problem for the 5’2″ Ball if this fight comes next, as he has skills the 27-year-old has not seen before.

It was Ball’s first defense of his newly won WBA 126-pound title, but he may have to face the mandatory Fulton (22-1, 8 KO) next if the World Boxing Association orders the fight. Ball said tonight that he wants to have a unification fight with one of the 126-pound champions next, but we’ll see if the WBA allows it.

Fulton lost to Naoya Inoue last July by eighth-round knockout in Tokyo, Japan. It was too much firepower for Fulton at the time, and he fought too cautiously against the Japanese star in front of his fans at the Ariake Arena. Against Ball, Fulton would be able to handle the style much easier because he’s not a marksman with Inoue’s speed and power.

WBA No. 1 Fulton looked spectacular last month, defeating Carlos Castro with a breathtaking 10-round split decision victory on the Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga on September 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

If the WBA allows Ball to place Fulton in a fight against one of the other featherweight champions, the logical fight would be against WBO champion Rafael Espinoza (25-0, 21 KO).

“I always want to eliminate them, no matter what. If I feel the pace, they will feel the pace ten times worse. Keep going until the bell rings and the fight is over,” Nick Ball said Social boxing.

“In boxing, it all comes down to who wants it the most. When you’re there, it’s just you and him. He is the one who wants it the most.”

Last update: 10/05/2024

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Tyson Fury enters his rematch with Usyk in destruction mode

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TYSON Fury says he approaches fights no differently now than when he was a youthful, rising boxer. He is currently training for the biggest moment of his life, after losing his undefeated record to Oleksandr Usyk in a May thriller, and as he approaches the age of 40, the self-proclaimed “Gypsy King” believes that a change of plans will lead him to revenge on December 21.

“I’m going to go into destroy mode now. The last time I went to box with him, I was careful and boxed [the] head straight for it. Let’s talk about the facts,” Fury buzzed.

“Anyone can get caught, which we see in a lot of heavyweight fights. But this time I won’t decide on points. I’m going to knock the motherfucker out.

Taking time during camp to chat in the TNT Sports studio, Tyson agreed with boxing specialist Steve Bunce that he is now fit, in good shape and willing to perform where it counts, even though the fight is almost three months away.

“I’m ready to rock and roll. Look, I don’t need a 12-week camp. I’ve been boxing all my life. I’m ready to leave tonight, tomorrow, next weekend, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday. It doesn’t really matter. I can get into the ring with 30 stones and do 15 rounds.

“I’m a natural at it. All I need is five or six weeks of sparring, this time good sparring, where I don’t have a wound that’s going to open up. We were very worried about the cut at camp because that cut came with a huge payout. And the cut didn’t even matter in the fight.”

That same week, he admitted his corner team would likely remain unchanged for the return leg in Riyad. The 36-year-old Tyson comprehensively addressed the issue of the laceration that caused initial confusion in the Usyks’ first fight, and the recovery became a race against time.

“Just three months, 12 weeks earlier, I had a 16-inch cut on my left eye that needed to heal. I’m not sure how long it takes for the wound to heal. I mean, how long? Fury asked Anthony Crolla for answers.

“It took maybe seven or eight weeks for the wound to heal and then another six or seven weeks of training. But there is always a risk that it will open and then you will lose your large fortune, you know what I mean?

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