Robeisy Ramirez seemed as if he would be effective enough to perhaps avenge another loss Saturday night.
Then he channeled his inner Roberto Duran.
After absorbing a flush right hand to his damaged right eye, Ramirez turned his back on Rafael Espinoza, waved his glove and delivered a “no mas” moment in the sixth round of their featherweight championship rematch. As Ramirez walked away from Espinoza (26-0, 22 KOs), referee Chris Flores had no choice but to stop their scheduled 12-round, 126-pound title fight 12 seconds into the sixth round at Footprint Center in Phoenix.
The Cuban-born Ramirez (14-3, 9 KOs) explained to ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna during his post-fight interview that he stopped boxing because he couldn’t see out of his right eye. Ramirez told his head trainer, Ismael Salas, that he was experiencing double vision before he got off his stool to start the sixth round.
“Look, what ended up happening is in the fourth round he hit me with a couple of elbows in the follow-through,” Ramirez said to Osuna. “I complained to the referee about it. He did his job, supposedly, and this happened.
“Look, I had to make a decision for my own health, if I’m not being protected. Look, I had double vision, and I had to make sure that I leave this ring with my health. You see that I’m OK, fortunately, but I just could not see out of my right eye.”
Ramirez was ahead through five rounds on the cards of judges Tim Cheatham and Dennis O’Connell, both of whom had the two-time Olympic gold medalist up by one point, 48-47. Judge Zachary Young had Espinoza in front 49-46 entering the sixth round.
Espinoza expressed doubt about Ramirez’s rationale for declining to continue in Top Rank’s co-feature before the WBO junior lightweight championship rematch between champion Emanuel Navarrete and former champion Oscar Valdez.
“I landed a clean shot, that right hand, and he felt that power,” Espinoza told Osuna. “I think he was feeling the power. He was starting to feel my pressure coming on, and I think the fight was turning in terms of the tide. [It] was coming in my favor. He was feeling my power and I think he knew what was coming next.” Ramirez was a 16-1 favorite to beat Espinoza in their first bout, but the unheralded Espinoza upset him by majority decision almost a year to the day earlier in Pembroke Pines, Florida. Guadalajara’s Espinoza got off the canvas from a fifth-round knockdown in December 2023, made Espinoza take a knee late in the 12th round and won their “Fight of the Year” candidate on two scorecards (115-111, 114-112, 113-113).