Ramirez hoping for successful “second chapter” with De La Hoya

FRESNO, Calif. – Avenal native Jose Ramirez will be returning to the ring in Fresno on April 27th at the Save Mart Center, hoping to begin a successful “second chapter” of his boxing career under the promotional umbrella of one of his childhood idols, boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya.

The main event of the card will feature Ramirez, who recently signed on with De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.

It will be Jose’s first fight in over a year, and his first fight under the Golden Boy umbrella, as he began his career with Top Rank Boxing.

The card will also feature undefeated welterweight Vergil Ortiz Jr. in the co-main event.

Jose is 31 year’s old now, and is hoping this could be the beginning of an exciting second chapter to his career.

The first chapter had some impressive moments, as the former Olympian became a unified world champion in the light welterweight division.

But Ramirez has fought only twice since losing his championship belts a little less than three years ago.

“I’m feeling strong, I’m sparring guys who are 14-0, 4-0, guys who who wanna become world champions,” said Ramirez, after Tuesday’s press conference at the Save Mart Center promoting the event. “And they all tell me, ‘hey Jose, you’re better than what we thought, like you’re strong, you’re smart, you’re fast,’ so yeah, I feel rejuvenated in that aspect, and also motivated.”

“I wanna make sure the second half of his career is better than his first half, in terms of him winning world titles, in terms of him making money, bigger events, Las Vegas,” said De La Hoya, a former 11-time world champion as a fighter. “That’s what the Golden Boy machine brings to the picture, so once I had the opportunity to team up with Jose, it was a no-brainer to come here (to Fresno) first.”

Ramirez (28-1, 18 KO) will be facing Cuban fighter Rances Barthelemy (30-2-1, 15 KO) in a 12-round fight on April 27th. Barthelemy appears to be in the twilight of his career age-wise, but is a former two-division world champion, who has only two losses in 33 professional fights.

As part of his trip to Fresno for the press conference, De La Hoya spent some time interacting with farmers here in the Central Valley.

And in appreciation for the work they do, Golden Boy is going to be supplying 3,000 ticket vouchers to farmers for the fight card.

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