INGLEWOOD — Los Angeles may have a cult hero in the works as John 'Scrappy' Ramirez twice thumped his opponent Ronal Batista to the floor to score a strong fourth round knockout Saturday at the Forum in Inglewood.
The bout served as the co-main event, just before Alexis Rocha and Giovani Santillan put it all on the line, during a Golden Boy Promotions event broadcast on DAZN.
'Scrappy' Ramirez
Ramirez could be to Los Angeles what Hector Camacho once was for New York as he has personality, vibes, and has enough swag to carry a card on his own.
His signature song, "Scrappy! Scrappy! Scrappy!" to the tune of Michael Jackson's 'Beat It,' could mirror the familiarity of 'It's Macho Time.'
All Ramirez is missing, for now, are the title fights and the signature wins. But, Saturday, he took one step closer to all that after scooping the 13th win of his career in a WBA super flyweight title eliminator.
'Scrappy' out-gunned Ronal Batista, coming alive in the third round to back Batista into the ropes, and the corners of the ring, as he bludgeoned him with unrelenting shots.
Showing tenacity that lived up to his ring moniker, 'Scrappy' threw heavy leather into Batista's ribs, his jaw, and when he really wanted to swing for the fences, the tassles on his elaborate shorts would fly in all directions.
It was all building to a statement of some kind and, sure enough, in the fourth round, 'Scrappy' toppled Batista with a left hook. Batista beat the count and tried to survive, but Ramirez chased him around the ring, throwing hammers, until, once again, his opponent was on the floor — this time for good.
A flurry to finish for SCRAPPY RAMIREZ!!!#RochaSantillan | LIVE on DAZN pic.twitter.com/Gq4ddW44MU
— Golden Boy (@GoldenBoyBoxing) October 22, 2023
As the referee stood over Batista and waved his arms, the crowd rose to their feet.
With victory, Ramirez advanced his pro boxing record to 13-0 (9 KOs).
In another undercard bout, Ricardo Sandoval edged Victor Sandoval in a fight that set the winner up for possible flyweight supremacy in future years. In a fun scrap, Ricardo got the 'W' with two scores of 97-93 and one of 96-94 to advance his pro boxing record to 23-2-0 (16 KOs).
'Dynamite' fails to explode
Earlier in the evening, Joeshon James forced the referee to step in and save David Stevens from taking any further punishment.
Stevens, nicknamed 'Dynamite,' failed to explode as James forced him on wobbly legs with a left hook, and then head-hunted until Stevens was on the floor. Though he got up, seemed dazed, confused, and close to defeat.
Moments later, James sent him to the canvas with a right cross and Stevens had it all to do to prevent a first-round stoppage defeat. But with just eight seconds remaining, the referee called it off. It was all over.
Victory advanced his pro record to 8-0-2 (5 KOs). With his first pro defeat, Stevens fell to 13-1-0 (9 KOs).
