Boxing Challenge: Ramirez rallies past Zepeda

ESPN and Top Rank put together a pretty nice card on a Sunday night from Fresno, California, which saw two entertaining fights at 140 pounds.

Photo Credit: Top Rank

In the main event, WBC champion Jose Ramirez was somewhat surprisingly extended by Jose Zepeda and needed a late rally to escape with a majority decision and retain his junior welterweight title.

Zepeda shot to the lead with some very smooth boxing and controlled a lethargic Ramirez well over the first half of the fight, but whether you want to credit Ramirez for a late charge or blame Zepeda for a late fade, Ramirez turned the tide and took a narrow 115-113 nod on my card.

These are the type of tests that every champion needs to pass to continue to progress and even though Jose Ramirez may not have been at his best, he retained his title.

As Jim Valvano used to say "Survive and Advance" and sometimes that's the best way to describe a victory.

The opener was an entertaining bout as former WBO lightweight champion Ray Beltran moved to 140 pounds and hooked up with Japan's Hiroki Okada for nine back-and-forth rounds before Beltran landed some booming right hands to knock down Okada twice in the ninth before the bout was waved off.

Beltran knocked Okada down in round two, but Okada rose and buckled Beltran in the same round to set the way this fight was going to go with give-and-take action.

I had Beltran slightly ahead at the time of the stoppage (76-75) and Beltran might be the next foe for Jose Ramirez, which could very well be the last stand for the aging, but still more than adequate veteran.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica scored three points to my two and took the overall lead at 32-31.