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Ramos stops Bolanos in eight, Wilder blasts McCreary in two

Fighters Network
09
Sep

Lightweight prospect Luis Ramos Jr. dominated Noe Bolanos to an eighth-round stoppage in the main event of a Golden Boy Live! show in Costa Mesa, Calif., on Satuday. Heavyweight prospect Deontay Wilder scored a second-round KO of Damon McCreary in the co-featured bout.

Ramos (23-0, 10 knockouts) outworked and outboxed the game-but-woefully slow Bolanos in every round until the Sonora, Mexico native’s corner threw in the towel midway through the eighth round. Both fighters suffered cuts during the Fox Sports Net/Fox Deportes-televised bout. Bolanos (24-7-1, 15 KOs) was cut over his right eye from a punch in the first round. Ramos, of Santa Ana, Calif., was cut over his right eye from a headbutt in the third.

Bolanos, who was coming off a fourth-round TKO to Ivan Alvarez in June, had a decent fourth round, landing some right crosses, but the 24-year-old southpaw stepped up his aggression in the middle rounds and heaped punishment to the 25-year-old Mexican’s head and body in rounds six, seven and eight.

In the co-featured bout, Wilder extended his unbeaten record and KO streak to 25-0 with 25 KOs by flattening the grossly overweight McCreary, a 39-year-old former super middleweight prospect from Detoroit, in the second round of their scheduled 10 rounder.



Wilder, a 2004 Olympic bronze medalist from Tuscaloosa, Ala., used his exceptional height (6-foot-7) and reach to keep his rolly polly opponent at bay in the first round. McCreary (14-1, 10 KOs) was floored twice in the first round but was shoved to the canvas once and then threw himself off balance when one of his wild haymakers missed.

McCreary landed an overhand right in the second round but Wilder quickly answered back and dropped him with a combination. McCreary beat the count but was floored again by a series of shots that deposited him on his side on the ring apron where referee Raul Caiz Sr. waved the bout off without a count 55 seconds into the round.

In the opening bout of the evening, former junior welterweight title challenger Demetrius Hopkins returned from an 18-month layoff to drop and shutout journeyman Doel Carrasquilla in an eight-round junior middleweight bout. Hopkins (31-2-1, 11 KOs), who scored a knockdown with a body shot in the sixth round, won by unanimous scores of 80-71. Carrasquilla dropped to 16-21-1 (14).

The Fox Sports broadcast was highlighted by two entertaining swing bouts, Cesar Valenzuela stopped local favorite Jose Correra in the third round of their scheduled six-round junior lightweight fight and Edgar Valerio battled hard to score a fourth-round TKO over fellow pro debuting junior bantamweight Fernando Fuentes.

Valenzuela (4-1-1, 2 KOs), of Phoenix, Ariz., traded knockdowns with Correra, of Santa Ana, Calif., in the second round of their awkward slugfest. Correra (7-3, 4 KOs), a southpaw, took the first round with effective aggression but Valenzuela, who had significant height and reach advantages, got his right hand going in the second and continued to find the mark with the straight power punch in the third.

A short right followed by a mid-range cross dropped Correa a second time. Correa struggled to his feet but referee Jerry Cantu waved the fight off at 2:21 of the round.

Valerio-Fuentes was the fight of the night. The two 18-year-old banties put on a bona-fide thriller by fighting toe-to-toe at a fast pace with solid fundamentals. Valerio, a swtich-hitter from Los Angeles, scored a knockdown with a right hook in the opening round. Fuentes, of Riverside, Calif., dropped Valerio with a hook followed by a cross in the second. The thrid round was even, featuring back-and-forth exchanges.

However, Valerio pulled ahead by twice dropping Fuentes with left hooks in the fourth, forcing Canu to call a halt at 1:02 of the round.

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