Robeisy Ramirez says he will be at his best in his rematch with Rafael Espinoza on Saturday and will reclaim his WBO featherweight title in their showdown at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. This fight is about Cuban Robeisy (14-2, 9 KOs) returning to where he is supposed to be at the top, holding the WBO belt and facing the other champions at 126.
Can Espinoza repeat?
Ramirez wasn’t supposed to lose to 6’1″ Espinoza in their fight last year on December 9th, but he wasn’t in the best shape. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy was not 100% and faded. In the 12th round he took a knee due to fatigue while being attacked by Espinoza.
The fatigue resulted in Robeisy losing a 12-round majority decision by the scores:
– 113-113
– 114-112
– 115-111
Even with Ramirez not at his best, he could have easily won with a fifth round knockout for dropping Espinoza. When the Mexican fighter got back up, he collapsed into the ropes. Normally, referees will stop a fight when a fighter is in that state, but this referee allowed the fight to continue. Espinoza an accidental champion, and in most cases would not be.
The round ended before Robeisy could pounce on Espinoza to finish him off. In both cases, it was luck on Espinoza’s part for him to make it out of the fifth. That was his luck, but he may not survive the rematch on Saturday night, as Robeisy will attack him relentlessly as he did in the fifth. There may not be a referee who will save Espinoza this time.
“Back to where I belong”
“The reality is that it wasn’t the best version of me, and I was still able to give a great performance, so the second fight will be better,” Robeisy Ramirez said. Sky Sportstalking about his fight against Rafael Espinoza last year on December 9th.
“I will go back to the place where I need to be.” I didn’t see myself losing. In the last round he didn’t land a punch which put me in a bad position. I went down, if you see the replay, I went down from fatigue,” Robeisy continued.
“Now I have to regain my title, and I will be ready to unite against any of the champions out there. There is no problem in fighting one of them.”
