Jose Ramirez to defend title against Antonio Orozco on Sept. 14
LAS VEGAS – Jose Ramirez, whose first title defense was canceled last week when opponent Danny O’Connor was hospitalized during his weight cut, won’t be out of action long.
Top Rank president Todd duBoef told Yahoo Sports that Ramirez will defend his WBC super lightweight championship against Antonio Orozco on Sept. 14 at the SaveMart Center in Fresno, California. Ramirez was supposed to defend the belt on July 7 in Fresno, but the bout was canceled on July 6 when O’Connor had problems with his weight cut.
“I think [Ramirez-Orozco] is a terrific fight,” duBoef said. “Stylistically, it is a can’t miss.”
A 2012 U.S. Olympian, the 25-year-old Ramirez is 22-0 as a pro with 16 knockouts. He won the title Terence “Bud” Crawford vacated last year by scoring an impressive unanimous decision victory over Amir Imam in New York at Madison Square Garden.
Orozco, 30, is 27-0 with 17 knockouts and was slated to face ex-welterweight title-holder Pablo Cesar Cano on Aug. 3 in Albuquerque. Orozco’s biggest win was probably a fourth-round stoppage of previously unbeaten Keandre Gibson on April 1, 2017, in Las Vegas.
Ramirez is from nearby Avenal, California, and has been a huge draw in Fresno, regularly filling arenas there, including the SaveMart Center. He recently ended his long-time relationship with Freddie Roach and hired Robert Garcia as his new trainer.
It will come the night before the pay-per-view show at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that will be headlined by a rematch for the WBA-WBC middleweight titles between Gennady Golovkin and challenger Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
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