Jesus Ramos was pleasantly surprised when he was informed that Joey Spencer wanted to fight him.
Ramos assumed that opposing Spencer wasn’t even a possibility because unbeaten prospects typically don’t face undefeated prospects or contenders as they attempt to establish themselves. Spencer, 22, and Ramos, 21, nevertheless embraced this risky fight, which has been scheduled as the co-feature on the David Benavidez-Caleb Plant undercard March 25 in Las Vegas, early in their careers.
The 10-round, 154-pound battle between Ramos (19-0, 15 KOs), a southpaw from Casa Grande, Arizona, and Spencer (16-0, 10 KOs), an orthodox boxer from Linden, Michigan, will be one of four fights Showtime Pay-Per-View will televise that night from MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“It was surprising because of the fact that, you know, how [Spencer] said that prospects nowadays, you know, they don’t look for fights like these,” Ramos stated during a virtual press conference recently. “They go the other way, [take other] routes and they look for, you know, different fights, and not between two undefeated fighters. So, I was surprised, but at the same time excited because I knew what kind of fight this would be. And, you know, I was just excited about the possibilities, man.
“You know, I knew that me fighting him was gonna be big. And it is big, you know, co-main event at the MGM, on a huge card. So, you know, that’s exactly what I imagined, you know, something as big as this. And, yeah man, it was great news. It was something huge and we’ve been preparing ever since, ever since we got [this] news.”
Spencer decisively defeated previously unbeaten Mexican prospect Kevin Salgado in his last fight, a 10-rounder September 4 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Two judges scored nine rounds apiece for Spencer (99-91, 99-91), who recorded a shutout on the other card (100-90) against Salgado (15-1-1, 10 KOs) on the Andy Ruiz-Luis Ortiz undercard.
“He looked good, man,” Ramos said of Spencer’s win against Salgado. “It was a good performance. He looked good. I saw some things that he was doing good. And yeah, you know, and I don’t expect him to be the same fighter because, you know, I myself have stepped up like that. And, like he said, you know, you go back and then you watch and you make a lot of improvements. So, I don’t expect him to be the same fighter that he was that night. But, like I said, he did a lot of good things in there. And yeah, you know, we’re ready for him.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.