David Benavidez took the WBA and WBO cruiserweight belts from Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez with an awesome display of speed and power on Saturday night in Las Vegas. The “Mexican Monster” dropped Ramirez in the fourth and the sixth, badly damaging the now-former champion’s right eye. The second knockdown in the sixth ended the fight with the official time of the stoppage at 2:59.
The headliner of the pay-per-view show didn’t disappoint as the two cruiserweights traded heavy punches throughout. After two highly entertaining fights on the main broadcast, it would have been hard to match the back-and-forth energy the audience had already enjoyed. But the violence of the stoppage left no one disappointed.
Benavidez (32-o, 26 KOs) squared up with Ramirez (48-2, 30 KOs) and the challenger had the quicker, more accurate hands from the outset. Ramirez chose to stand and fight and Benavidez regularly got the better of the exchanges. The speed difference was significant and Benavidez’ shots did damage while Zurdo’s got through but didn’t change the action in his favor.
When Ramirez was floored in round four, he got up with damage to his right eye. Surprisingly, Zurdo had a good round five as Benavidez appeared to slow down a bit.
But the sixth saw a pitched battle where Ramirez was doing ok until the vicious exchange in the waning seconds. After taking another brutal shot to the eye, Ramirez backed away and went down to one knee. The fight was waved off and David Benavidez became the new two-belt champ at 200.
Very impressive performance by Benavidez and nothing to be ashamed of for Ramirez. He went out on his shield.
ROUND BY ROUND
RD1 – Benavidez getting there with the straight right down the middle. Good action to start, Benavidez sharper.
RD2 – No lateral movement from either, right in front of each other, sizing each other up. Benavidez quicker. Zurdo backs him to the ropes and gets some body work done. Good back-and-forth. 2-0 Benavidez.
RD3 – Big shots landed by both. Zurdo warming up. David’s power shots not rocking him like the first two rounds. Fast hands for Benavidez. A brawl to end the round. 2-1 Benavidez.
RD4 – Big right for Benavidez hurts Zurdo, follows up, Zurdo goes down at the bell. Gets up, bloody. 3-1 Benavidez.
RD5 – Zurdo comes forward and gets a lot done. Benavidez not as active. 3-2 Benavidez.
RD6 – Decent round for Zurdo until he gets popped at the end again and he goes down. Pain from the eye. Official time – 2:59.
