Jose Ramirez has been known to dole out punishment, often dropping his opponents in the process. For a brief moment on Saturday night, Ramirez was on the receiving end, finding himself in an unfamiliar situation.

Ramirez recovered from a knockdown to dominate his way to an eight-round unanimous decision over Johnny Garcia before a crowd of 12,130 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif.

With the win, Ramirez improves to 16-0, 12 knockouts, while Garcia drops to 19-4-1, 11 KOs.

Ramirez was originally scheduled to fight on Sep. 26 in Lemoore, which is about a half-hour drive from his hometown of Avenal. The 2012 U.S. Olympian had to withdraw from the fight due to suffering an injury to his left hand.

Garcia was a significant underdog going into his bout with Ramirez, having not won a bout in three previous fights. He looked as though he had nothing to lose fighting on the inside from the opening bell.

Midway through the second round, Garcia dropped Ramirez with a counter right hand to the head. The knockdown seemed to stun Ramirez and those in attendance, but Ramirez seemed to hurt Garcia later in the round with a right hand of his own.

To his credit, Garcia never backed down, biting hard on his mouthpiece and trading with Ramirez in the pocket. It may not have been the smartest move, but Garcia was able to tie up Ramirez when the 23-year-old attempted to launch an offensive onto Garcia.

Ramirez had his moments during the last two rounds, landing vicious hooks to the head and body. The punches looked as though they began to take their toll as Garcia began to slow down by the seventh round. Ramirez came on in the eighth round, but Garcia was able to withstand the barrage of punches until the final bell.

All three judges scored the bout in favor of Ramirez, 79-73, 79-73, and 77-74. RingTV.com also scored the bout 77-74.

“Fighting before a big crowd was awesome,” said Ramirez after the fight. “In the ring, I battled against a tough opponent. It was a hard fight, a real battle. Garcia took a lot of hard punches.”

“I am going back to the gym and focus harder.”

In the opening bout of the ‘Solo Boxeo Tecate’ telecast, junior lightweight Andy Vences stopped Manuel Rojas in the second round.

Vences, who has stopped his last eight bouts in a row, improves to 14-0, 10 KOs. Rojas drops to 12-3, 4 KOs.

After a competitive opening round, Vences came on during the following stanza. A minute into the second round, Rojas threw and landed a left hook to the head, dropping Rojas to the canvas. This occurred after Rojas uncharacteristically dropped his hands while both were inside the pocket.

Rojas beat the count, but did the same thing moments later. As both fighters were on the inside, Rojas again dropped his hands, prompting Vences to throw and land another left hook to the head, dropping Rojas to the canvas. Referee Gerald White waved the fight over at 1:40.

– In a four round swing bout, middleweight Joe Louie Lopez (7-0, 4 KOs) stopped Dave Courchaine (2-7, 2 KOs) at 2:32 of the second round.

– Junior lightweight Guy Robb won an eight round unanimous decision over Juan Ruiz (24-20, 7 KOs). All three judges scored the bout in favor of Robb (17-1, 7 KOs), 80-72, 80-72, and 79-73.