Former unified world champion Jose Carlos Ramirez had been out of the ring for a year, and some fans were looking to see if he could get into form when he stepped in the ring against Richard Commey. It took 11 rounds for Ramirez to stop Commey in front of 11,201 fans at the Save Mart Arena in Fresno California.

“It’s always hard after a layoff, but mentally I had to go back to being my old self and start strong,” Ramirez said after the fight. “There came a point in my career where I got too comfortable. I started with that rhythm and being active with my punches throughout the round. And I went back to my old self.”

Ramirez (28-1, 18 KOs) went to war with Commey (30-5-1, 27 KOs) early in the fight as they fought in close quarter for the entire first round. He hurt Commey in the second round and was landing well in the following round but his momentum was slowed a bit in the fourth as Commey caught him with some right hands. It took some work in the middle rounds for Ramirez to break down Commey as he was getting hit with some jabs while coming forward, but the work paid off in the 11th as he was able to score a knockdown 30 seconds into the round. Commey stumbled to the canvas from a series of punches from Ramirez, and then a body shot at the 45 second put down Commey to one knee and referee Jack Reiss counted him out as Commey did not get up.

“Commey is a tough guy. Big shoutout to Commey and his team,” Ramirez said. “He’s a good warrior. He took some good shots. And he picked it up in the middle of the fight, too. I heard his team motivating him, but I wanted to make a statement and show that I’m the stronger guy in there.”

He did make a statement in this fight, and he wanted to make sure that the champions in the weight class were paying attention. He wants to get in there with anyone that holds a title.

“I want any world champion. Regis Prograis, the winner of Josh Taylor-Teofimo Lopez…If Regis is serious about fighting, then we could sit down and negotiate. Let’s sit down and make the fight.”

Cover photo by Mikey Williams