Upset of the Year
(Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank)
Rafael Mendoza MD 12 Robeisy Ramirez
He looked finished. Rafael Espinoza crumbled to the canvas and fell awkwardly, twisting his right ankle, after the devastating right hook that Robeisy Ramirez landed in the fifth round of their WBO featherweight title fight in December.
Espinoza has looked finished a few times in his career, however, and the 29-year-old Mexican featherweight has a habit of bouncing back.
Espinoza survived that close call, and then, with 26 seconds left in the fight and under a deluge of shots, Espinoza found the gumption to turn the tide again, counterattacking and forcing Ramirez to take a knee. With that knockdown, Espinoza would stunningly seal his victory, winning the WBO featherweight title via majority decision in The Ring’s 2023 Upset of the Year.
It was the biggest victory of the 6-foot-1 tactician’s career – and some coaxing from his experienced corner played a big role.
“After getting knocked down, Rafael was able to come back to the corner and deal with the pain,” said Manny Robles, Espinoza’s trainer, who also guided Andy Ruiz to The Ring’s 2019 Upset of the Year, in which Ruiz stopped Anthony Joshua. “Later in the fight, Rafa kept coming back to the corner, and the first thing he would say, ‘Manny, I think I broke my leg, it hurts.’ After the ninth round, I told him to stop complaining about the leg and fight. I asked him if he wanted to be a world champion or not.”
Ironically, if not for Joshua-Ruiz, Ramirez might’ve been part of the Upset of the Year in 2019 also. The two-time Olympic gold medalist had shockingly lost his pro debut to a 4-2-2 novice named Adan Gonzales, but since then he’d been on a 13-fight winning streak and was starting to look like the pro many had imagined.
(Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank)
“I wasn’t going to allow Rafa to stop,” said Robles. “He was in the fight. He started coming back to the corner in the championship rounds saying ‘I’m going to be a world champion.’ When he got that knockdown in the last round, that was it. I believed in Raffy. He began believing in himself. He not only beat Ramirez, he beat him on one leg. Up until the fifth round, he was doing great. When he made that switch from southpaw to conventional, Robeisy’s experience came through and caught up.”
If there was a comeback Trainer of the Year, it would be Robles, who also trained Ramla Ali in her November rematch victory over Alejandra Guzman, who’d knocked out Ali in the eighth round in June.
RUNNERS-UP:
Adrien Curiel KO 2 Sivenathi Nontshinga – Curiel became the new IBF junior flyweight titlist, handing Nontshinga his first defeat. Curiel stalked Nontshinga, getting close before unfurling a devastating overhand right in the second round, sending Nontshinga down and out under the ropes. Referee Sparkle Lee did not even bother counting.
Joseph Parker UD 10 Deontay Wilder – Parker, who became the only other fighter other than Tyson Fury to beat Wilder, not only won but did so convincingly by scores of 118-111, 118-110 and 120-108. Wilder was already looking forward to a megafight with Anthony Joshua after beating Parker on the “Day of Reckoning” card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but those plans were spoiled.
Brian Mendoza KO 7 Sebastian Fundora – Fundora was up on the scorecards, 60-54 (2) and 59-55, when Mendoza slammed him with a left hook that wobbled the 6-foot-6 southpaw and had Fundora standing there stunned for a second. Mendoza then finished him with a right-left to the chin.
Marlon Tapales SD 12 Murodjon Akhmadaliev – The Filipino veteran landed a shot at “The Monster,” Naoya Inoue, by outworking the heavily favored defending unified titleholder and winning by scores of 115-113 twice, which overruled a laughable 118-110 for Akhmadaliev.
Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who was inducted into the Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame in 2023. He has contributed to Ring Magazine/RingTV.com since October 1997 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
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