In the co-main event of the Premier Boxing Champions card headlined by Caleb Plant’s super middleweight title defense in Nashville on Saturday night, Abel Ramos scored an unlikely 12th-round stoppage over Bryant Perrella in a finish reminiscent of the famed first encounter between Julio Cesar Chavez and Meldrick Taylor.
“I know the fight’s not over until it’s over,” said Ramos after the fight. “That’s the game. I’ve been sick for two weeks. But no excuses. I wanted to come here and perform.
“I watched the Chavez-Taylor fight like 10 million times and I never thought I’d be in something like that. It just goes to prove that fights are never over till it’s over. You have to fight every single second of every single round,” he added.
Perrella (17-3, 14 KOs) proved to be both awkward and effective by using his reach and counter-punching to keep Ramos (26-3-2, 20 KOs) at bay. While Ramos consistently came forward and remained aggressive, Perrella picked him apart from the outside with hooks and straight rights.
In the third round, Perrella stunned Ramos with a left hook and once again in the fifth round, though Ramos managed to stay on his feet on both occasions.
Ramos had better success in the later rounds, as Perrella began showing signs of fatigue and halfway through the 10th and final round, Ramos connected with a brutal uppercut that sent Perrella down to the canvas.
It appeared Perrella wouldn’t get up, given the manner in which he violently went down, but got to his feet and beat the count nonetheless. Ramos, smelling an opening to end the fight, went on the attack and after a series of punches, sent Perrell down again.
Perrell beat the count but as referee Jack Reiss asked him to walk to the corner and back to the middle of the ring, he stumbled, which was enough of a red flag for Reiss to wave it off at 2:59 of the 10th round.
“This is boxing. It’s like Meldrick Taylor and Chavez,” said Perrella, agreeing with Ramos’ comments. “These things just happen. I’m not going to take anything away from my opponent. I was winning every round convincingly. What can I say? There was second left in the 10th round. It’s like a needle in the haystack. It is what it is.”
The judges’ scores at the time of the stoppage were 87-84, 88-83, and 88-83 in favor of Perrella. Had Perrella survived the round, he would have won a majority decision.
Earlier in the evening, Diego Magdaleno (32-3, 13 KOs) scored a minor upset by decisioning Austin Dulay (13-2, 10 KOs) in a 10-round lightweight bout.
Dulay, from Nashville, started out fast to the delight of his hometown fans, while the 33-year old Magdaleno kept his composure and worked the body.
Though some of Magdaleno’s body shots went low, the attach was effective in slowing Dulay down. Then in the seventh round, a body shot sent Dulay down for the only knockdown of the fight.
However, Magdaleno’s body work could be careless at times, as he was warned several times for hitting below the belt, and was finally deducted a point by referee Jack Reiss during that same seventh round.
By the time the fight went to the final round, Dulay’s punches were less than effective and wouldn’t deter Magdaleno from finishing strong.
“Every round he was hitting me low and, in the back, and on the hips,” said Dulay. “It was more times than he got called for. I won that fight 100%.”
Final scores were 87-84, 88-83, and 88-83 in favor of Magdaleno.
“Experience has everything going for me. In my previous fight, I lost my head,” said Magdaleno. “This time I took my time. My camp said slow it down. Happy for the victory tonight.”