by Shaun Brown
JESUS RAMOS produced a dominant display to stop Jeison Rosario in the opening televised bout of last night’s action in Las Vegas.
Ramos-Rosario kicked off the four-fight main card which was topped by the light heavyweight grudge match between David Benavidez and David Morrell. And the fans inside the T-Mobile Arena would have hoped the bill-topper would not be as one-sided as the 10-round middleweight opener.
Rosario doesn’t celebrate his 30th birthday until April but he resembled an ageing veteran after being picked apart by Ramos.
Ramos, meanwhile, now has back-to-back wins on his record since a disputed defeat to Erickson Lubin during a super welterweight world title eliminator in September 2023.
Last night, Ramos, 22-1 (18 KOs), reminded everyone how effective he is particularly when his punches come together like they did for the majority of the bout. Rosario offered little in response with his punches pushed rather than connecting naturally.
Ramos, 23, clearly adopted a strategy of targeting Rosario’s body but it was shots upstairs which dropped the former unified super welterweight champion in round seven. A flush one-two connected cleanly and a split second later Rosario’s legs were gone from underneath him. Undeterred he got back to his feet but referee Robert Hoyle warned him, “You gotta show me something.”
It signalled the beginning of the end, however, and with 42 seconds left in round eight Ramos thudded away to his opponent’s body and head forcing referee Hoyle to intervene and wave off the contest.
“I was hoping to get a knockout instead of a TKO,” Ramos said afterwards.
“I like to throw a lot of body punches, it’s kinda my style. He was a lot bigger. My first time at 160 so I wanted to take my time with it as well.
“I want to go back to 154 and fight the best of the 154 division. We have a lot of talent and we’re looking to make the big fights.”
