Local favorite and NABA Super Flyweight champion John “Scrappy” Ramirez (11-0, 8 KOs) of Los Angeles, had a successful start to Golden Boy’s Thursday Fight Night series as not just did he win in front of a sold-out crowd, he also gave the fans the show, as Ramirez gutted out an eight-round decision over Luis “Callado” Padilla (15-4-2, 2 KOs) of Guadalajara, Mexico.
The fight which took place at Fantasy Springs Resort and Casino, in Indio, California, saw Ramirez, who is a teammate of Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez afforded a major opportunity to headline this card, and got the most important thing - a win.
“This wasn’t a tough fight for me,” said “Scrappy” Ramirez. “He wasn’t on my level. I made sure that the fight wasn’t boring for the fans here and made it as entertaining as possible. Even though I give myself a C for my performance because I should have never gotten hit, I was willing to take a gamble. I want the eliminator next.”
In the co-feature saw a major ticket seller in Coachella Valley Manuel “Gucci” Flores (15-0, 11 KOs) tested greatly against Franklin “El Abuelo” Gonzalez of Los Teques, Venezuela (25-2, 25 KOs), winning by way of a split decision. The judges scored the bout 77-74, 75-76, 77-74.
“This was a really good experience,” said Manuel “Gucci” Flores. “I’ve never gone a full eight-rounds before against a tough opponent like Gonzalez. This was a great test for me; I give myself a C-. I kept going to his head when his body was there. He was using some dirty tactics like head butting and such, but at the end I’m glad we were able to get the victory.”
Other notable results from this card saw minimum weight underdog Katherine Lindenmuth (3-1) of Albuquerque, New Mexico received a hard-fought, split-decision victory against Lorraine Villalobos (5-5, 2 KOs) of Los Angeles, Grant Flores (1-0, 1 KO) got a first-round KO over Jorge Lopez (0-2) of Queretaro, Mexico, Women’s bantamweight “Stefi” Cohen (3-1-1, 1 KO) of Miami, Florida went the distance against with Leanne Calderon (1-3-1) of Austin, Texas, with Cohen’s knockdown of Calderon being the difference and the TV opener saw heavyweight Zachary Spiller (3-0, 2 KOs) of Houston, Texas defeated Kaleel Carter (3-4, 3 KOs) of Bellflower via unanimous decision with scores of 39-37.
