Notebook: Ruiz-Ortiz undercard includes 'Pitbull' and return of Abner Mares

Martinez pulls out of Saturday's flyweight title defense; Behind The Gloves appearance; Zurdo wants WBA to order his mandatory shot; Quick hits; Show and tell

Jun 23, 2022

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Andy Ruiz Jr.’s goal is to once again hold a heavyweight world title while longtime contender Luis “King Kong” Ortiz still is striving toward the goal of winning one after two failed opportunities.

For either to keep their hope alive in the immediate future they must go through each other in a WBC title eliminator in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions card that was fleshed out on Wednesday.

It will take place on Sept. 4 — the Sunday of Labor Day weekend — and headline a Fox PPV card (10 p.m. ET) at Crypto Arena in Los Angeles that will also include lightweight contender Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz in the co-feature and the return of former three-division titlist Abner Mares after nearly 4½ years away from the ring.

Ruiz (34-2, 22 KOs), 32, of Imperial, California, has been idle since getting dropped in the second round and getting up to win an exciting unanimous decision over former title challenger Chris Arreola in May 2021 in Carson, California.

“I’m so excited to get back in the ring in front of all of my fans in Los Angeles on September 4,” said Ruiz, who held three major titles for six months in 2019 after upsetting Anthony Joshua as a late replacement and then losing to him in an immediate rematch. “This is my chance to prove to everyone that I’m going to be heavyweight champion of the world again. I’m super motivated to be facing a great fighter like Luis Ortiz, so my fans can expect to see me at my best. Everyone has wanted to see this fight and we’re going to give everyone a war on fight night.”

Ortiz (33-2, 28 KOs), 43, a Cuban southpaw fighting out of Miami, suffered both of his losses by knockout challenging then-titlist Deontay Wilder. Ortiz is coming off a sixth-round knockout of former titlist Charles Martin, who dropped Ortiz in the first and fourth rounds, in the exciting main event of a Fox PPV on Jan. 1 in Hollywood, Florida.

“I’m blessed to be back in a position to get closer to achieving my goal of becoming the first heavyweight champion of the world from Cuba,” Ortiz said. “Anyone who doubts me has only fueled me to keep going. I know that I have to make a big statement in this fight, and that’s my plan on Sept. 4. I respect Andy Ruiz, but he’s standing in my way and I’m going to do whatever it takes to go through him.”

In undercard bouts:

Cruz (23-2-1, 16 KOs), 24, of Mexico, will face countryman Eduardo Ramirez (27-2-3, 12 KOs), 29, in a WBC lightweight title eliminator. Cruz opted for the fight rather than a much more lucrative final eliminator against Ryan Garcia.

“I’ll be facing a very good opponent and I’ll be back at the same arena where I faced one of the best fighters in the division in Gervonta Davis,” Cruz said of his competitive decision loss for a secondary title in December 2021. “Stepping back into the ring there is pumping me up even more and I can’t wait to start throwing my hands on fight night.”

Ramirez, a southpaw, has won five fights in a row, most recently a majority 10-round decision over Luis Melendez in a junior lightweight bout May 28 on the Davis-Rolando Romero undercard.

“I am coming up in weight for this fight, but that just means I’ll be that much stronger,” Ramirez said. “I’m excited for this opportunity because after I win I will be recognized as a top fighter in my new division. He’s not going to outbox me and he can’t knock me out, so he has no way to win. I’m planning on showing the world what I can do against a perfect opponent for me.”

Mares (31-3-1, 15 KOs), 36, of Montebello, California, a former bantamweight, junior featherweight and featherweight titleholder, will face Miguel Flores (25-4, 12 KOs), 29, of Spring, Texas, in a 10-round junior lightweight fight.

Mares is best known these days as a Showtime analyst. He has not boxed since losing a decision to Leo Santa Cruz in their featherweight title rematch in June 2018 at then-Staples Center, which is now Crypto Arena.

“I know everyone is used to seeing me suited and booted on TV talking about the beautiful sport of boxing, but let me remind everyone, I'm a bad mother f----- in the ring, and on Sept. 4, the world is going to remember what they missed,” Mares said. “I’m the best in boxing in speed, power, intelligence, and good looks. Miguel Flores is on my radar, and I'm sorry to say, he's going back to elementary school after meeting me. I'm a master in this game, and I'm back.”

Flores is coming off an eight-round split decision over journeyman Diuhl Olguin last June after having lost two in a row.

“This is a huge opportunity for me against a three-division champion and I’m doing everything I can to make the most of it,” Flores said.

In the opening PPV fight, up-and-coming lightweight Jose Valenzuela (12-0, 8 KOs), 23, of Seattle, will face former junior lightweight titlist Jezreel Corrales (26-4, 10 KOs), 30, southpaw from Panama, in a 10-rounder.

“My opponent is an accomplished former champion and this is the kind of challenge that I’ve been asking for,” Valenzuela said.

Corrales has won three fights in a row at lightweight since back-to-back decision losses, including in an interim junior lightweight title bout to Chris Colbert in January 2020.

“Valenzuela is a good young fighter with some skills, but he doesn’t have the experience to handle what I’m bringing to the ring,” Corrales said. “This is going to be like when the great Panamanian champion Roberto Duran took Davey Moore to school. Class is going to be in session and no amount of studying is going to have him ready for what I’m planning to do.”

Martinez out of Arroyo rematch

WBC flyweight titlist Julio Cesar Martinez, who was due to face interim titleholder McWilliams Arroyo in a mandatory rematch on Saturday night at Tech Port Arena in San Antonio, pulled out of the bout on Wednesday due to an unspecified illness, Matchroom Boxing announced.

Martinez-Arroyo II was scheduled to serve as the co-feature on the DAZN card headlined by WBC junior bantamweight titlist and San Antonio native Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez making a his first defense against former champion and mandatory challenger Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.

“(With) deep regret the WBC confirms that WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez has pulled out of the fight vs. interim WBC champion McWilliams Arroyo. Exact details are yet to be disclosed,” WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman wrote on Twitter. “WBC will be addressing this terrible situation.”

Matchroom Boxing said that with Martinez-Arroyo off, a 10-rounder between featherweight Raymond Ford (11-0-1, 6 KOs), 23, of Camden, New Jersey, and Richard Medina (13-0, 7 KOs), 21, of San Antonio, would be elevated to the main card.

Martinez (18-2, 14 KOs), 27, of Mexico, and Arroyo (21-4, 16 KOs), 36, of Puerto Rico, fought in November 2021 in a wild bout in which they were knocked down in the first round. Arroyo got dropped again in the second, but the shootout ended as a third-round no contest because Arroyo was unable to continue after being cut by an accidental head butt.

Martinez, who has made a habit of pulling out of fights on short notice, including previously against Arroyo, was returning to flyweight to defend his title and looking to rebound from a lopsided decision loss after having filled in on short notice against the legendary Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez in a junior bantamweight fight on March 5.

Behind The Gloves

On Wednesday, I joined my pal Michelle Phelps on her Behind The Gloves show. We discussed several boxing topics, including the Oleksandr Usyk-Anthony Joshua rematch, the third fight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin, Tyson Fury’s future and the heavyweight fight between Andy Ruiz Jr. and Luis Ortiz that was announced this week. Makes to check the show out here:

Zurdo wants mandatory enforced

Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, a former super middleweight titlist and the mandatory challenger to WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol, wants his shot.

He has been chasing Bivol for more than a year and has won two title eliminators and although their camps discussed a fight, Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs), 31, of Russia, understandably gambled that he would get the money fight with Canelo Alvarez, which he got in May and won via upset decision.

But now that Alvarez has opted for a third fight with Gennadiy Golovkin on Sept. 17 rather than invoke his right to an immediate rematch with Bivol, Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs), 31, a southpaw from Mexico, wants next and hopes the WBA will order the fight.

“I appreciate the WBA and believe the right process will be followed,” said Ramirez, who knocked out Yunieski Gonzalez in the 10th round in a December eliminator and Dominic Boesel in the fourth round in a second eliminator in May. “I’m confused about Bivol ducking me. I earned the WBA mandatory challenger position in the ring, not once but twice. He’s been talking about fighting me for the last two years. It’s time.”

There was a time 18 months ago when Bivol seemed interested in the fight, saying, “Gilberto Ramirez is one of the top players in the light heavyweight division. We have talked about this fight for a long time. The time has come to make this a reality. We’ve trained together and sparred as well. He is a professional, gentleman, and a very good boxer. He is an ex-world champion who has proven to be one of the best. Fights like this excite fans. This is what boxing is all about, fights that either fighter has a 50-percent chance of being victorious.”

Quick hits

Unified heavyweight titlist Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) and former two-time titlist Anthony Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) will meet head to head again at a new conference in Joshua’s hometown of London on June 29. It is the second of their two tour stops, having came face to face on Tuesday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where their rematch will take place on Aug. 20. Usyk notched a major upset when he outpointed Joshua to take his three belts last September.

The Philippines’ Rene Mark Cuarto (20-2-2, 11 KOs), 25, will defend the IBF strawweight title for the second time when he meets Daniel Valladares (25-3-1, 15 KOs) on July 1 at the Deportivo Revolucion de Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico, Valladares’ hometown, promoter BXSTRS announced. Cuarto outpointed Pedro Taduran to take the title in February 2021 and then defeated him again by seventh-round technical decision in his first defense in February. Valladares’ first title shot came against Taduran in February 2020 and ended in a fourth-round technical draw.

Show and tell

Ricky Hatton, the undefeated lineal junior welterweight champion, wanted a big fight with welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather and one of the best ways to set the table for that inevitable showdown was by facing the tough Jose Luis Castillo, the former lightweight champion, who had given Mayweather two of his toughest fights. Hatton-Castillo was also viewed as a can’t-miss action fight between devastating body punchers even if Castillo, having been through so many wars, was past his best days. They met at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas in a major HBO main event, which I was ringside to cover, and while it did not turn out to be the back-and-forth battle many expected, Hatton turned in one of his best performances in front a festive and largely British crowd that had traveled to see him. He did not disappoint.

Hatton dominated and eventually knocked Castillo out with a heavy left hook directly on the rib cage in the fourth round. Castillo, who had never before been knocked down, dropped to a knee — Hatton had broken four of his ribs with the punch — and referee Joe Cortez counted him out. Hatton dedicated the fight to the late Diego Corrales, who was Castillo’s greatest rival but had died in a drunken motorcycle crash a month earlier. With the win, Hatton moved to 43-0 and would go on to challenge Mayweather in his next fight. Castillo would fight for another seven years but never again in a major bout. Hatton-Castillo was on June 23, 2007 — 15 years ago on Thursday. Here is a site poster with artwork from the superb Richard Slone in my collection.

Martinez photo: Melina Pizano/Matchroom Boxing; Ruiz photo: Sean Michael Ham/TGB Promotions; Ramirez photo: Tom Hogan/Golden Boy

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