Erislandy Lara W12 Johan Gonzalez... Erislandy Lara (pictured) dropped late replacement Johan Gonzalez twice on the way to a unanimous decision victory, defending his WBA middleweight title. Gonzalez was subbed in for WBO/IBF middleweight champion Zhanibek Alimkhanuly who test positive for a banned performance enhancing substance. Lara (32-3-3, 19 KOs) score knockdowns in the first and last rounds to cruise to a unanimous decision over challenger Johan Gonzalez (36-5, 34 KOs) after 12 rounds. Lara took home the decision by scores of 120-106, 119-107 and 118-108. "Gonzalez came to fight and he came to win,” said Lara. “We knew him a little bit, so we were ready for that and we made the adjustments we needed to make. He was a tough opponent who had a great opportunity in front of him, but we executed the game plan.”
"I spend all my time at the gym, so I had no problem being ready for this fight,” said Gonzalez. There are no excuses, but I did feel that Lara didn't come to fight me the way he said he would.”
Cuba’s Lara set the tone early, delivering a blistering straight left that put Gonzalez on the mat late in round one. While he wasn’t able to close the show in the opening frame, Gonzalez was hesitant offensively for a few rounds as a result.
"I felt a little uncomfortable in the first few rounds,” said Gonzalez. “The first knockdown was a punch and a slip. The second was a clean shot from Lara."
Stepping in to challenge Lara on short notice this week, Gonzalez tried his best to trap the elusive Lara on the ropes and hammer him with chopping shots, but was regularly met with sharp counters. In round five, Lara staggered Gonzalez with a pair of crisp left hands that again helped to keep Gonzalez at bay.
Lara continued to show his ring mastery throughout the remaining frames, landing hard lefts ensuring that none of Gonzalez’s shots amounted to much besides glancing blows. In the final seconds of the bout, Lara punctuated his victory with a hard series of shots that dropped Gonzalez for the second time.
"I showed the world that I'm 42-years-old and I'm still at the top of my game,” said Lara. “I can compete with the best. I don't care at all about Janibek and I don't wanna talk about him anymore."
Jesus Ramos Jr. W12 Shane Mosley, Jr.... Opening the pay-per-view, Jesus “Mono” Ramos Jr. (24-1, 19 KOs) grinded out a hard-fought unanimous decision over top contender Shane Mosley Jr. (22-5, 12 KOs) to capture the WBC interim middleweight title. Ramos won by scores of 117-111 (twice) and 116-112. "I was just being myself,” said Ramos. “I'm not gonna lie, it was tough. I actually had a right hand injury the last three weeks of camp. We didn't spar for the last four weeks. So it was tough to get my timing. I would catch a rhythm and lose it. I faced a lot of obstacles but I told my family there was no way I was leaving San Antonio without a belt.”
“It was a hell of a fight,” said Mosley. “Thanks to Ramos and everyone who made this fight happen. He was the man tonight. I’ll be back and be better.”
After controlling the action with occasional power shots across the first few rounds, Ramos began to look to shrink the distance between him and Mosley and bring the fight to the inside. Mosley was ready for the adjustment however and appeared to stagger Ramos with right hands in both the fourth and fifth rounds.
"He never hurt me but he did surprise me,” said Ramos. “I never felt rocked, but I was surprised. He hit me with shots I wasn't expecting. But I never felt like my legs weren't there.”
As they moved into the second half of the fight, the action largely took place from the middle distance, with the two combatants trading big blows that snapped the other’s head back. Ramos had one of his best frames in the 10th, mixing in more lateral movement that set up a series of piercing power punches to give him momentum heading into the championship rounds.
With that momentum in hand, Ramos landed a thudding left that staggered Mosley and left him open additional power shots, which Ramos continued to pour on until the end of the 11th. In the championship rounds, Ramos landed 40 power shots to clinch the decision, and set his sights on WBC Middleweight World Champion Carlos Adames.
"In those last few rounds I just kept remembering the Erickson Lubin fight,” said Ramos. “I kept getting flashbacks and I didn't want the same thing to happen again. I kept pushing and pushing. I was in a dark place in that 10th round. I was tired, but I knew it would be worth it when the final bell rang.
"I want Carlos Adames. He's the full champion. I don't want the interim belt, I want the champion."
