All is right with Gilberto Ramirez again.
The former 168-pound title holder, who lost a one-sided decision to 175-pound champ Dmitry Bivol in November and then missed weight by 7-plus pounds for a scheduled fight that was canceled in March, had his way with Joe Smith Jr. on Saturday in Las Vegas.
Ramirez (45-1, 30 KOs) won nine of the 10 rounds on all three scorecards in a 193-pound catch weight bout, making him a major player in the cruiserweight division.
The 32-year-old southpaw from Mexico picked apart Smith (28-5, 22 KOs) for most of the one-sided fight, doing particularly good work to the body.
Fifty-nine of Ramirez’s total punches landed were to his American counterpart’s stomach, 35%, according to CompuBox. And 51 of the 59 were power shots. He threw 415 punches overall
Smith, a big puncher, landed some clean power shots but couldn’t hurt the rugged Ramirez. The New Yorker landed 119 of his 419 punches.
“This is a new beginning for me,” Ramirez said. “I came back stronger, faster and I came forward. I was a lot smarter in the ring. I think it was a great performance for me. …
“I felt like I was ahead on the cards. I never took any chances because he has heavy hands and brings a lot of heat to the ring.”
The fight was billed as a WBA title eliminator.