Espinoza stops Ramirez in 6th round when he retires with eye injury
Retains WBO featherweight title in rematch; errant elbow does damage
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The tide had clearly turned in favor of WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinoza in his rematch with former titleholder Robeisy Ramirez, but it was still a shock when after taking a stiff right hand to the face in the opening seconds of the sixth round Ramirez took a step back, put his head down, raised his left glove in the air and walked away.
It took a couple a moments for Espinoza, referee Chris Flores and the crowd of 8,438 at Footprint Center in Phoenix to realize what had happened but it was Ramirez giving his version of no mas.
Ramirez had resigned the fight and Espinoza retained the 126-pound belt for the second time in the highly anticipated co-feature of another rematch of an action-packed fight, WBO junior lightweight titlist Emanuel Navarrete’s second go with interim titlist Oscar Valdez, on the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on Saturday night.
Ramirez said he retired because he had double vision after being hit in the right eye by an errant elbow from Espinoza earlier in the fight and after taking another right hand that he didn’t see, he pulled himself out. There were accidental elbows, including at least one found on video replay with a little over 2 minutes left in the fifth round that appeared to catch Ramirez on the follow through.
Ramirez, the two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist, was taken to the hospital and, according to Top Rank, was diagnosed with a fractured right orbital bone.
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