Jesus Ramos made a strong statement on Saturday night.
The young junior middleweight contender withstood intense pressure from Vladimir Hernandez and knocked out the rugged Mexican in the sixth round on the Keith Thurman-Mario Barrios in Las Vegas.
Hernandez (13-5, 6 KOs) was coming off back-to-back victories over Alfredo Angulo and Julian Williams, swarming his opponents to win decisions.
And that’s the tactic he used Saturday, attacking Ramos from the opening bell and not letting up. However, by Round 4, Ramos seemed to become more comfortable with the pressure, began to avoid many of Hernandez’s shots and started to land the cleaner, harder punches.
In Round 6, a left hook to Hernandez’s chin that hurt him badly was the beginning of the end. Ramos followed with several more hard shots, backed him to the ropes and landed more blows.
Finally, referee Mike Ortega had seen enough and stopped the fight. The official time was 2:21 of Round 6 in the scheduled 10-rounder.
Ramos stopped his first 15 opponents but had outpointed his last two.
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