Ronnie Rios defeated former junior featherweight titlist Rico Ramos via unanimous decision in the premier of Shobox: The New Generation’s main event on Friday night. The card was live from the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California.
Rios established a solid jab early on and he landed it flush throughout the fight, but he used it as a weapon as opposed to a way of setting something up and rarely followed up after landing stiff jabs. The body attack from Rios was also another key factor from the get-go and it helped him to take control of the fight. Rios was undoubtedly the bigger man in the ring, however he didn’t use his size advantage throughout the fight and even when he did it wasn’t being utilized to the max.
Ramos rarely took advantage of the opportunities Rios was affording him, even when Rios took round 5 off. Rios seemed to have full control through 5 rounds, but Ramos remained in the fight. In Round 6 Rios rebounded and began to mix up his attack, landing some of the most significant shots in the fight to that point.
Ramos rallied in the 8th, landing his most significant punch of the fight. Ramos began to find success countering, showing the experience he gained from being in the ring with the kind of quality opponents on his resume.
After looking weak in rounds 8 and 9, Rios rallied in the 10th to close the show strong. The judges were unanimous in their decision with scores that read 100-90, 97-93, and 96-94 for Rios. Thaboxingvoice.com scored the fight 97-93 for Rios.
Daquan Arnett defeats Brandon Quarles via unanimous decision:
Undefeated junior middleweight prospect Daquan Arnett was on the undercard taking on another undefeated fighter Brandon Quarles. Arnett, from Orlando, Florida, is one of the busiest fighters in all of boxing with 10 fights in a 13 month time span. He earned the unanimous decision victory against Quarles.
This fight was Arnett’s first scheduled 8 rounder in his continuing mission to test himself from one fight to the next, in fact it was the second consecutive fight against an undefeated fighter. Arnett got exactly what he was looking for in Quarles as an opponent.
Arnett displayed his God given abilities early in the fight, showcasing his speed and combination accuracy to the body. However, Quarles gave Arnett all he could handle by stifling him on the inside and closing the distance which in turn negated Daquan’s biggest attributes as well as his obvious advantages over Quarles. Arnett was flawless at his distance, from there he picked apart Quarles, but it was never long enough to really gain full control over the fight and it seemed like every time Daquan built momentum Quarles was quick to turn the fight into a sloppy mess.
Both Arnett and Quarles were blamed for holding throughout the contest, but in retrospect it was Quarles who was initiating most of it. In the 3rd round Quarles caught Arnett with a looping overhand right, a punch that Quarles found scattered success with and a punch he used throughout the fight.
The punch seemed to stun Arnett which may have caused his decision to switch to southpaw in the 4th round. Arnett eventually returned to the body and once again displayed the brilliance that so many in the sport have attached to him.
After a handful of warnings from referee Ray Corona about holding and other sloppy fighting he deducted a point from Quarles in the 7th for holding and coming in too low with his head. That point wouldn’t end up making as big an impact as the announcers suggested it might as the scores read 78-73, 77-74, and 76-75 all for the winner by unanimous decision Daquan Arnett. Thaboxingvoice.com scored the fight 77-74 for Arnett.
Arnett was put in there with a fighter that wouldn’t allow him to look great and he was made to earn everything he got in that fight. Some may say it was a lackluster performance in comparison to what we’re used to seeing from Arnett, but this was a building block kind of fight and Arnett has equipped himself with the kind of education in the ring that will payoff in the long run.
