Tag: Andy Foster

Gilberto Ramirez apologizes, will be suspended by California after missing weight

Gilberto Ramirez apologized and will be suspended by California after missing weight for his scheduled fight against Gabriel Rosado.

Gilberto Ramirez said he has “no excuses” after missing weight by 7.6 pounds for his now-cancelled 175-pound fight with Gabriel Rosado on tonight (Saturday) in Long Beach, California.

He’ll have a lot of idle time to think about what he did.

Andy Foster, executive director of the California State Athletic Commission, said Ramirez will be suspended for at least six months. That means he’ll miss one fight, which Rosado was forced to do, assuming another commission doesn’t ignore California’s ruling.

Ramirez was due to make $400,000, Rosado $175,000.

“I’m suspending Ramirez,” Foster told Fight Freaks. “He’s getting suspended and fined, probably fined at least 5 grand. He blew the whole event up, so I’ll probably suspend him in the neighborhood of six months. It might be eight months.

“The suspension has to be long enough to cost him one fight because he cost Gabriel Rosado a fight and a training camp.”

Ramirez (44-1, 30 KOs) said he was embarrassed.

“No excuses,” he said in a formal statement. “I had never missed weight in my 45 pro fights. This is the first and last time. I have always prided myself on being a professional, but today was not my finest moment.

“On that note, l’d like to apologize to all my fans and supporters, Golden Boy Promotions, and DAZN for this unfortunate event. I never gave up trying to make weight, cutting until the final moment, but just couldn’t lose enough to make the contracted weight.

“I am embarrassed and upset by my actions and promise that this will never happen again. I will make the right adjustments and will be back soon.”

A source “close to the Ramirez camp” told Fight Freaks: “His body shut down. He worked all (Thursday) night and (Friday) morning. Tried everything.”

The fight between 140-pounders Joseph Diaz Jr. and Mercito Gesta was elevated to main event tonight (DAZN).

[lawrence-related id=36205]

Gilberto Ramirez apologizes, will be suspended by California after missing weight

Gilberto Ramirez apologized and will be suspended by California after missing weight for his scheduled fight against Gabriel Rosado.

Gilberto Ramirez said he has “no excuses” after missing weight by 7.6 pounds for his now-cancelled 175-pound fight with Gabriel Rosado on tonight (Saturday) in Long Beach, California.

He’ll have a lot of idle time to think about what he did.

Andy Foster, executive director of the California State Athletic Commission, said Ramirez will be suspended for at least six months. That means he’ll miss one fight, which Rosado was forced to do, assuming another commission doesn’t ignore California’s ruling.

Ramirez was due to make $400,000, Rosado $175,000.

“I’m suspending Ramirez,” Foster told Fight Freaks. “He’s getting suspended and fined, probably fined at least 5 grand. He blew the whole event up, so I’ll probably suspend him in the neighborhood of six months. It might be eight months.

“The suspension has to be long enough to cost him one fight because he cost Gabriel Rosado a fight and a training camp.”

Ramirez (44-1, 30 KOs) said he was embarrassed.

“No excuses,” he said in a formal statement. “I had never missed weight in my 45 pro fights. This is the first and last time. I have always prided myself on being a professional, but today was not my finest moment.

“On that note, l’d like to apologize to all my fans and supporters, Golden Boy Promotions, and DAZN for this unfortunate event. I never gave up trying to make weight, cutting until the final moment, but just couldn’t lose enough to make the contracted weight.

“I am embarrassed and upset by my actions and promise that this will never happen again. I will make the right adjustments and will be back soon.”

A source “close to the Ramirez camp” told Fight Freaks: “His body shut down. He worked all (Thursday) night and (Friday) morning. Tried everything.”

The fight between 140-pounders Joseph Diaz Jr. and Mercito Gesta was elevated to main event tonight (DAZN).

[lawrence-related id=36205]

CSAC’s Andy Foster regrets sanctioning 7-second knockout

California State Athletic Commission Executive Director Andy Foster regrets sanctioning Seniesa Estrada’s 7-second KO of Miranda Adkins.

(Editor’s note: This story originally published at MMA Junkie, part of the USA TODAY Network.)

Like many, California State Athletic Commission executive officer Andy Foster didn’t enjoy Seniesa Estrada’s most recent win.

Estrada, who holds a secondary WBC junior flyweight title, scored the fastest knockout in women’s boxing history last Friday, putting away Miranda Adkins seven seconds into their title bout in Indio, Calif. The fight streamed live on DAZN.

The video of the quick, vicious knockout went viral online and had many questioning the making of the contest, as it was a clear mismatch between a young world-class fighter and an older inexperienced woman.

Estrada is 28 years old and 19-0 her professional boxing career. She’s also a two-time junior Olympic national champion and U.S. champion.

Meanwhile, Adkins is a 42-year-old who didn’t take up boxing until a few years ago and had a record of 5-0 entering the fight.

“If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t have approved that fight,” Foster told The Ring. “I have never denied a [WBC title fight].

“I certainly didn’t think [Adkins] was going to win the fight. But I thought it would go longer than seven seconds.”

Foster said he’s taking the situation as a lesson and welcomes the negative feedback. Ultimately, though, he leaves the situation unhappy that his commission sanctioned the contest.

“On paper, hindsight is 20-20 for everybody,” Foster said. “Now that we know the outcome, I think it’s fair to criticize me for approving that because I’m critical of myself. I kinda blew this one.”

[lawrence-related id=12174,12127]

California establishes guidelines for resumption of boxing in summer

The California State Athletic Commission on Friday passed emergency regulations that would allow cards to be staged this summer.

California is a step closer to hosting post-lock down combat sports shows.

The California State Athletic Commission on Friday passed emergency regulations that would allow cards to be staged this summer, according to ESPN. The guidelines were forwarded to the California Office of Administrative Law for its review, after which combat sports could resume.

Andy Foster, the CSAC executive director, laid out the regulations for ESPN.

“The fighters will be tested between two and three weeks before their event for the COVID-19 virus,” he said. “If they’re clear, we’ll accept them on the bout card and we’ll approve the fights if they meet the other criteria.

“Then two days before they travel, they’ll fill out a questionnaire. And when they get to the hotel, they’ll be isolated and tested again with their fight camps. Everybody involved in the promotion will be tested on that day.

“Anybody that the promoter deems ‘essential’ to their promotion — and we approve them to be there, and that could be media — anybody that is in that building [who is] part of the promotion is going to need to be tested.”

Foster said California officials will use information gleaned from UFC 249, which took place on May 9. That included the fate of Jacare Souza, who tested positive for COVID-19 the day before the event.

“We learned from that event, and I want to be clear, that’s not to put down the UFC one bit, they had a great plan and everything,” he said. “We learned by watching that, just how contagious this virus could be. So we want to mitigate that risk.”

Golden Boy President Eric Gomez has said that his company hopes to stage a card as soon as July 4.

UFC’s Dana White hits back hard at boxing promoter Bob Arum

UFC President Dana White used a number of expletives in his response to boxing promoter Bob Arum’s criticism of him.

Dana White responded to boxing promoter Bob Arum’s criticism of the UFC president’s plans to stage three shows this month. And he didn’t hold back.

Arum suggested that White is acting recklessly by scheduling the events before it’s safe to do so amid the coronavirus pandemic. UFC events are set for this Saturday (UFC 249), May 13 and May 16 without live audiences at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

“Good luck to them. I just hope that they’re not endangering the safety of anyone. But this kind of cowboy behavior doesn’t do anybody any good,” said Arum, who has discussed staging events with no spectators in late June at the earliest.

White responded to Arum’s comments on the UFC Unfiltered podcast.

“Listen I think by now that everybody realizes that Bob Arum is a d—head,” White said. “This guy has been talking s— about the UFC and me for 20 years. He’s f—–g bankrupt, this guy, he’s f—–g bankrupt! You don’t want to put fights on, you can’t afford to put fights on, you f—–g j—off!

“You’ve been in this thing your whole life and you’ve completely destroyed the business and the sport. Congratulations Bob Arum, you’re brilliant.”

Arum said he plans to follow the lead of major sports leagues in the United States, not White, whom he called a “cowboy.”

“We’re looking now with Nevada, which we’ll do in a sensible way, or California,” Arum told BoxingScene.com. We’re working with [Nevada’s] Bob Bennett and [California’s] Andy Foster, and we’re talking to the Texas commission. We’re only gonna do this if it’s safe for the fighters and everyone involved, and if it’s approved by the medical authorities.

“We’re not gonna be cowboys, like Dana White. I don’t wanna get politics involved, but I have really very little respect for Dana and what he’s doing.”

He went on: “I think the behavior of people in sports we should be following are Adam Silver of the NBA, Roger Goodell of the NFL, people who are proceeding cautiously and safely, not people who are acting like cowboys.

“For example, [the UFC] wanted to do this fight in California and they were prevented by the governor [Gavin Newsom] and by senator [Dianne] Feinstein going to ESPN and having Dana pull [the plug].

“It turned out one of the fighters, in fact, tested positive afterwards for coronavirus. You know, if we get something like that on one of Dana’s shows, and God forbid there’s a serious incident of spreading the disease, it doesn’t do well for anybody who’s involved with sports.”

Lyman Good was on the UFC 249 card when it was scheduled to take place in Brooklyn but he pulled out and later announced he had tested positive for the coronavirus.