Espinoza filled with joy heading into 1st featherweight title defense
Faces upset-minded Chirino, who aims to ruin Ramirez rematch plans
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Rafael Espinoza was supposed to be a speed bump. Cannon fodder. A huge underdog.
He was unknown, untested and the hand-picked opponent for two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez to make his second WBO featherweight title defense against in December.
But Espinoza had apparently not read the script and scored a dramatic and major upset to win the title in one of the best fights of 2023.
Ramirez knocked him down in the fifth round but Espinoza closed the show with a knockdown in the 12th round and won a heart-pounding majority decision — 115-111, 114-112 and 113-113 — to stamp himself as boxing’s latest “Cinderella Man.”
It was a tremendous fight and Top Rank had designs on an immediate rematch. Espinoza, however, understandably wanted another defense first, so that is what he will get when he squares off with Sergio Chirino — similarly as unknown as Espinoza was in December — in the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ card on Friday (7 p.m. ET prelims, main event at approximately 10:30 p.m. ET) in the company’s first event at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
As outstanding as Espinoza’s victory was six months ago, he does not seem to have let it go to his head. In fact, Espinoza (24-0, 20 KOs), 30, of Mexico, who comes off as very humble, said not much as changed for him since he won the 126-pound title.
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