Based on how he sounded Saturday, former unified world champion Jose Ramirez might complain if he found a winning lottery ticket in his driveway.
Other than a few anxious moments early, though, Ramirez largely had his way with Rances Barthelemy Saturday at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif., and won a wide unanimous decision over the Cuban veteran. Judges had it 119-109 twice and 118-110 for Ramirez, who for for the first time since a March 23, 2023, stoppage of Richard Commey in the same ring.
Since then, Ramirez left Top Rank, his original promoter, and signed with Golden Boy. He largely gave a good account of himself and was in control throughout. KevinIole.com had it 117-110, scoring the 11th round 10-8 for Ramirez. But Ramirez was his own harshest critic afterward.
"It wasn't the best performance of my career," said Ramirez, who raised his record to 29-1, with only a loss in an undisputed super lightweight title fight with Josh Taylor marring his record.
Perhaps it wasn't, but Ramirez won 32 of the 36 scored rounds by the judges and dominated the punch stats. According to CompuBox, Ramirez had a 255-112 edge in punches landed. He outjabbed Barthelemy 60-11 and had a 194-101 edge in power shots. He hurt Barthelemy with a jab in the 11th, forcing the Cuban to back to the ropes.
Ramirez went hard for the finish, and referee Jack Reiss was on his front foot ready to call a halt to it as the waning seconds of the penultimate round counted down. In between rounds, Reiss warned Barthelemy he'd stop the fight if he laid on the ropes and took punishment. Barthelemy stayed mostly in the center in the 12th and took some shots from Ramirez for his troubles, but he did make it the full 12.
While Ramirez wasn't thrilled, promoter Oscar De La Hoya certainly was and said he hopes to have Ramirez fight for a championship next time out.
"I thought it was a great performance against a power puncher, an Olympian," De La Hoya said. "It was his first fight back in over a year and got the rust off. On to the next and on to bigger and better things."