Jesus Ramos made good on a promise to be more aggressive than was the case in his previous outing.

The hard work and patience reaped dividends, as he eventually dropped and stopped Johan Gonzalez.

Ramos scored two knockdowns to earn a ninth-round stoppage. Referee Harvey Dock allowed the action to continue after the first knockdown but halted the contest when Gonzalez once again hit the deck. The official time was 2:56 of round nine in their Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Prime preliminary bout Saturday evening from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The fight was the first for Ramos since a narrow defeat to Erickson Lubin last September 30 in this venue. The Ring’s No. 6-rated junior middleweight felt he did enough to win that night. He admitted, however, that a conservative offense ultimately left the fight on the table.

There was no doubt this time around. Gonzalez (34-3, 22 knockouts) had never been stopped in 36 prior contests and showed a sturdy chin for much of the night. Ramos was vicious with his right hook and his body attack, which eventually slowed and broke down Gonzalez.

Ramos was dealt a brief moment of adversity midway through the fight. A clash of heads left the 23-year-old southpaw from Casa Grande, Arizona, with a cut just above his left eyelid. His corner expertly worked on the wound to where it wasn’t a factor for the remainder of the bout.

Gonzalez threatened to cross the finish line before Ramos stepped it up and closed the show. A left hook sent Gonzalez to the canvas late in round nine. He barely beat Dock’s count but was still wobbly from the prior sequence. Ramos slammed home a final combination to put Gonzalez on his butt, this time to produce an immediate stoppage.

Ramos advanced to 21-1 (16KOs). His loss to Lubin came on the Showtime Pay-Per-View undercard topped by Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s dominant win over Jermell Charlo.

Saturday’s bout preceded a four-fight PBC on Prime PPV telecast, once again headlined by Alvarez, who defends his Ring and undisputed 168-pound championship versus Jaime Munguia.

The opening bout of the PBC on Prime prelim show saw Vito Mielnicki Jr. (18-1, 12 KOs) outpoint Ronald Cruz (19-4-1, 12 KOs) over ten rounds. Scores were 99-89, 98-90 and 96-92 for Mielnicki, who floored Cruz in rounds three and four. The 21-year-old North New Jersey native was cut under his right eye but fought through it to earn his tenth straight win.

Jake Donovan a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Follow @JakeNDaBox

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