A pair of featherweights headlined Golden Boy’s “LA Fight Club” on Fox Sports 1 tonight as Jayson Velez squared off against Daniel Ramirez in a scheduled 10 rounder at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles, California.
Velez fought to a draw in his last outing against the always tough Evgeny Gradovich and he wanted to make a statement against Ramirez tonight to get gain the momentum back as he pursues another world title shot.
The Puerto Rican Velez started off well in the fight. He was taking an intelligent inventory of his punches if he wasn’t being a bit too conservative. Velez stuck his jab out there just enough, he went to the body just enough, and he was elusive. It was a very constructive round, but he implemented his game plan and that was good enough to set the course.
After consecutive right hands landed flush on the chin of Ramirez, Velez was able to hurt him with yet another right hand that staggered his opponent in the 2nd round. Ramirez’s legs were wobbled and he cornered himself, giving Velez the chance to land a left hand coming in that sent Ramirez to the floor.
Ramirez got off the canvas and landed some right hands of his own, which seemed to slow down a Velez that thought he smelt blood. A firefight broke out and both fighters were landing heavy leather. Velez started utilizing uppercuts from the inside, but Ramirez would not be outdone as he put in some work to the body. Velez slowed down a bit towards the end of the round, but he wouldn’t let the round end without landing another hard right which seemed to shake the legs of Ramirez yet again.
Ramirez got the credit for not just surviving the knockdown but actually fighting his was back to a competitive round. However, the true credit was earned by the way he started off the very next round as Ramirez actually pushed Velez backwards by utilizing a stiff jab. Ramirez began to put together skillful combinations before Velez forced his power onto Ramirez once again.
At this point fans were being treated to a real fight, although it was a fight being built on the back of some solid boxing skills. Ramirez ended the round by cementing his own right hand into the mix. These weren’t basic right hands, these were hard shots that earned Velez’s respect.
Velez was able to slow down the tempo in the fight and make the necessary adjustments, but there was absolutely no holding going on and the action was plentiful. Ramirez was never far out of the 4th, but Jayson Velez landed a solid left hand that staggered Ramirez to put an exclamation on the round.
Velez was putting together an incredible offensive performance, but he was still being hit far too much and it was clear that his defense is not as developed as his offense is.
Velez was putting rounds in consecutively when in the 6th, Ramirez landed several unanswered right hands that landed flush on the chin of Velez. Velez stayed strong and ate them well, he even managed to put together some last minute offense to salvage the round, but it was evident that Ramirez was still in the fight, even if he was entering desperation time on the scorecards.
Toward the end of the fight, Velez finally began to move his head and wasn’t eating as many clean shots from Ramirez. Velez was still putting his punches together well and he was definitely the more active fighter in the final stages of the fight, but he was being conscious of leaving himself open.
Velez displayed a strong offensive showing in the final rounds and it was much less competitive in those final stages than it was in the early rounds. Velez wasn’t able to close out the show with a stoppage, but he did finish in an impressive manner.
After 10 rounds, the fight went to the scorecards and the judges turned in the scores of 98-91 twice and 99-90 all for Velez, making the unanimous decision win his 23rd professional victory. Velez is now 23-0-1 but could not add to his 16 KO/TKO total.
