COSTA MESA, California – Former world junior featherweight titleholder Jessie Magdaleno returned from nearly a year out of the ring with a unanimous decision win over Rico Ramos.

It was Magdaleno’s first fight since losing his WBO junior featherweight title by knockout to Isaac Dogboe on Apr. 28 of 2018 in Philadelphia.

Now competing at featherweight, Magdaleno is hoping to excel in a new weight class.

The southpaw Magdaleno rushed out from his corner at the start of the fight, which was the co-feature to the Pulev-Dinu card on ESPN. The pace of the fight slowed down considerably, but Magdaleno was the aggressor and worked behind a steady jab throughout most of the fight.

Ramos did little during the first half of the fight to initiate exchanges and looked to load up on one counter punch at a time.

Sensing he was down in the fight, Ramos began to close the distance between the two fighters in round seven. Ramos, a former world junior featherweight titleholder, walked Magdaleno down, but was not able to cut off the ring or let his hands go consistently anytime Magdaleno was against the ropes.

Magdaleno was content to box and counter during the final two rounds, keeping Ramos at the end of his punches and playing it safe rather than attempt to hurt Ramos.

Scores were 99-91, 98-92, and 97-93 for Magdaleno, who improves to 26-1 (18 knockouts).

Ramos, who resides in nearby Pico Rivera, drops to 30-6 (14 KOs).

Despite having not fought in 11 months, Magdaleno believed he gave an honest effort against Ramos.

“It was a long layoff,” said Magdaleno, who is managed by Frank Espinoza. “I came back against a tough veteran. I wanted to make the climb up (the rankings) and that’s why we took this fight. Ramos is a former world champion for a reason.”

Magdaleno is already ranked number three by the WBO at 126 pounds, but a fight against world titleholder Oscar Valdez may not be in the immediate cards. Magdaleno may take another fight or two before a significant fight comes his way.

“We will look at this fight and see what we need to work on. I’m going to sit down with my Dad, my coach, and Top Rank and talk about what is next for me.”

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV.com since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and FightNights.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing