OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Gilberto Ramirez said at his prefight press conference that he would be the one to remain undefeated following his bout with Alexis Angulo. He kept his promise Saturday night.
Ramirez unanimously outpointed Angulo to retain the WBO super middleweight championship, winning 120-108 on one judge's card and 119-109 on the other two.
Making his fourth title defense, the undefeated Ramirez outlasted Angulo in a fairly even 12-round bout in which neither boxer appeared to have the upper hand, and neither landed many significant punches.
''He was a tough fighter, it was a tough fight for me and I learned a lot,'' Ramirez said. ''I am really happy because I keep my belt and stay undefeated too, and he has a loss now, like I promised in the press conference -- he had no losses but he does now.''
The 27-year-old Ramirez, from Mexico, improved to 38-0. He landed powerful punches in the fifth and eighth rounds.
The 34-year-old Angulo, from Colombia, fell to 23-1.
Angulo had flurries of punches in both the seventh and the 11th rounds, but neither fighter ever appeared to hurt the other. Ramirez sustained a cut under his left eye in the fifth, but his corner attended to it after the round and it never bled again.
''It was good,'' Ramirez said of the win. ''(My game plan) was to throw combinations, move around the ring, and I tried to beat him in all the rounds. He has a powerful hand, he was good.''
It might have been the least entertaining bout of the night, prompting a smattering of boos from the crowd at various times, including as the final bell sounded.
It was a sharp contrast from the other title bout on the undercard, as Oklahoma City resident Alex Saucedo scored a technical knockout of Leonardo Zappavigna in the seventh round of a bloody slugfest to claim the WBO International title and the NABA-USA title in the junior welterweight division.
With the crowd loudly cheering him on, Saucedo opened a bloody cut over Zappavigna's right eye in the fourth round, but it wasn't until Zappavigna's left eye became swollen shut in the seventh that his corner threw in the towel to end the fight.
Mikaela Mayer won the only female fight of the night, beating Sheena Kaine in a unanimous decision (60-53 on each scorecard) in their six-round lightweight bout, which featured Mayer knocking Kaine down in the second round.
Trey Lippe Morrison, the son of former heavyweight champion Tommy Morrison, also fought on the undercard, winning by technical knockout 1:39 into the third round of a heavyweight bout with Byron Polley, who had a 46-pound advantage. Morrison dominated the fight, knocking the 38-year-old Polley down five times before the referee called it.
Robson Coneicao, a 2016 Olympic gold medalist from Brazil, also won his bout on the undercard, with a third-round technical knockout of Gavino Guaman in a super featherweight bout. Also winning on the undercard were Mike Alvarado, Christopher Zavala and Aaron Morales.
