Rafael Espinoza says he is open to fighting WBO super featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete following his sixth-round TKO victory over Robeisy Ramirez in their rematch last Saturday night at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
Navarrete might be too big of a punch for the slugging Rafael Espinoza to handle if he were to move up to super featherweight to challenge him for his WBO title. The money might be better for Espinoza than staying at 126, but it would be a risky fight.
Navarrete destroyed a completely overmatched Oscar Valdez (32-3, 24 KOs) last night in the sixth round in the main event. He dropped Valdez three times in the fight and scored a body punch knockout in the sixth round. It was a 100% unnecessary rematchas Navarrete already easily beat Valdez last year, winning a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision on August 12, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona. The fight was NOT competitive.
Robeisy’s decline
WBO featherweight champion Espinoza (26-0, 22 KOs) forced two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy (14-3, 9 KOs) to stop in the sixth round when he caught him straight in the pipe with a sharp right hand . Robeisy immediately turned and stopped. Espinoza showed his class by not catching him at the moment, as he was defenseless, would have been at the mercy of a the 6’1″ Mexican champion.
Ramirez, 30, claimed he had double vision in his right eye from the elbows Espinoza caught him with beginning in the fourth round. However, there was no swelling on that eye in that round or the fifth. It wasn’t until the sixth round that Robeisy’s right eye swelled up, and that came after the right hand Espinoza landed that forced him to quit. Ramirez’s eye was visibly doing well immediately after the fight and he didn’t look good.
Former WBO 126-lb champion Ramirez lost his title to Espinoza in their first fight on December 9 last year, losing a 12-round majority decision in a competitive contest. Ramirez blitzed out of the fast pace Espinoza put on him in the second half and was dropped in the 12th round of that contest.
With the loss, Ramirez’s short time as a top tier fighter may have ended. The Cuban Robeisy is a old look 30, and not nearly the same fighter he was when he won two gold medals in the 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
These medals were won at flyweight and bantamweight for Robeisy. Ramirez doesn’t look tapped for the weight class at featherweight, but it’s unlikely he’ll be able to compete at 118 or 112 at his age. Is it time for Robeisy to retire? It can be. Either way, Top Rank should consider whether to re-sign him when his contract ends.
Espinoza’s statement
“I think he was frustrated by the pressure. I know he was connecting, and he noticed it wasn’t doing me any harm. So, mentally, I was strong, and I think mentally I could also do better than him. He was tired, and he barely landed on me,” Rafael Espinoza said of Robeisy Ramirez during the post-fight press conference. “He lost in that mental game.
“I could have fought someone else, but I wanted this fight,” Espinoza said of his rematch with the Cuban Ramirez. “He can be a champion. It can happen.
“I want the best fights. I want to unite and move up.”
