Ramos remains unbeaten, captures title

McALLEN -- Austin fighter Casey Ramos prevailed over Mission's Guadalupe de Leon in an eight-round unanimous decision to capture a Texas featherweight title in the main event of Friday's Fists of Fury boxing show at McAllen Convention Center.

Ramos (8-0, four knockouts) received a stern test from de Leon (7-6, five KOs). Although Ramos landed a number of effective punches that appeared to be enough to floor de Leon, the Mission fighter stayed on his feet and never faltered. He came back and landed some well-placed punches of his own.

"The first two rounds were tight, and they could have gone either way, but I think I pulled it off at the end," said Ramos, who was fighting his first eight-rounder. "I think I had the better boxing skills. The guy is a good, tough fighter, I'll give him that, but I came out on top. My punches were good. I could have stayed on him a little bit more at times, but I got the win, and that's the main thing."

It was the 19-year-old Ramos' fourth fight in the Rio Grande Valley. He went against a determined opponent in de Leon, 30, who recently returned to the ring after a three-year layoff.

"This is the best I've ever fought, especially coming back after three years, and I think I did enough to win this fight," de Leon said. "It was close, but I thought I took it."

Added James Gogue, de Leon's trainer: "The first three rounds, I wanted Lupe to box him and take a little energy out of him because Casey's a strong fighter. Later in the fight, I wanted Lupe to start pressuring him and go to the body. You could see the body shots were hurting him. We should have pressured him more and hit the body more. I don't think Casey ever thought he would get a tough fight like this. We were ready."

   
The judges scored it 77-75, 77-75, 78-74.

When asked if he would be in favor of a rematch, Ramos said no.

"This guy had his chance, and he failed," Ramos said. "He's a stepping stone, and now, we're moving on to bigger and better things. Getting this title feels great. It's what I've been training for all my life. Next will be a world title or an Americas title."

In the co-main event that went all six rounds between evenly matched middleweights, Eloy Suarez (10-4, five KOs) of San Antonio edged Fernando Vela (7-13-1, three KOs) of Monterrey, Mexico, on a unanimous decision. The bloody, back-and-forth battle was scored 59-55, 59-55, 58-56 by the judges.

Fighters winning bouts on the undercard included Javier Romero (2-3) of Pharr, Jose Vasquez (1-0) of Diaz Ordaz, Mexico, Alberto Feliciano (1-0) of Puerto Rico, Juan Ovalle (2-4) of Mercedes, Samuel Gutierrez (4-4) of Saltillo, Mexico, and Maria Salinas (2-0) of Pharr.

The Fists of Fury show originally was scheduled for Dec. 27, but when one of the main-event fighters pulled out, the card wound up being canceled. New fighters were brought in for the main event, and the show came off as planned with a packed crowd Friday. 

 
Roy Hess covers sports for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4448 or via e-mail at prasmussen@themonitor.com