Ramirez stops Hooker to unify WBC/WBO 140lb titles

By Jeff Zimmerman at ringside

In a battle of unbeaten 140lb champions, WBC champ Jose Ramirez proved he was up for the Texas-size challenge and knocked out the WBO titleholder “Mighty Mo” Maurice Hooker in the sixth round in his hometown of Dallas at the College Event Center at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Ramirez came out from the opening bell and took the fight to Hooker, who tried to keep the aggressive Ramirez at bay with his 80 inch reach. Ramirez landed a glancing shot as Hooker was going backward off-balance, but appeared to step on Hooker’s foot causing Hooker to hit the canvas. Hooker got up instantly and protested the call to referee Mark Nelson but to no avail.

In the 2nd round, Hooker went back to the jab and landed a big left hook, but soon Ramirez had him against the ropes where he had a field day to the body and head of Hooker. Hooker tried to counter with short shots as Ramirez would go upstairs and back downstairs on the slender Hooker. By the 3rd round, Hooker was boxing better and landed a big overhand right, but Ramirez kept coming. Both guys were slugging it out as the bell ended with referee Mark Nelson wrapped around Hooker.

The loud, local crowd tried to rally Hooker with chants of “Mighty Mo” to open the 4th round. Hooker and Ramirez started dropping bombs on each other and a big uppercut by Ramirez at end of the round, but was quickly countered by Hooker. Once again in the 5th round, Ramirez mixed up the attack to the body and head, as Hooker again tried to fight off the ropes. Ramirez threw an uppercut occasionally for good measure. Hooker tried to come back and chop down Ramirez and had success with a couple of big left hooks, but could not land the telling blow.

In the 6th and what turned out to be the final round, Ramirez landed a massive left hook that did the initial blow to hurt Hooker and once against the ropes, Ramirez unleashed a flurry of six or seven punches that viciously snapped Hooker’s back multiple times before the referee could run in to save Hooker from any more damage. The time of the KO was 1:48 of the 6th round. Ramirez leaves Texas with Hooker’s WBO belt to go along with his WBC greenbelt in the title unification.

This fight was billed as “All or Nothing” and a 50/50 fight on paper by many experts and was called a potential fight of the year candidate and it definitely lived up to all the pre-fight hype. Both guys showed tremendous heart and landed some big shots, but in the end, Ramirez had too many weapons and became the unified champ in what was a Texas shootout.

Afterward, Ramirez shared his thoughts on the fight.

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