Feisty Fill-In Makes It a Fight

Monday’s night main event at the Pond had all the makings of a mismatch. On Thursday, Puerto Rico’s Luis Roman Rolan pulled out because he couldn’t make weight, leaving Jorge Eliecer Julio to fight journeyman Antonio Ramirez, who was coming off nine consecutive losses.

But Ramirez apparently never got the message that he was supposed to be Julio’s sparring partner. He put pressure on Julio, a former World Boxing Assn. bantamweight champion from Bogota, Colombia, for 10 rounds before losing a unanimous decision.

Ramirez, who was cheered by the announced crowd of 2,482 after the decision was read by ring announcer Jimmy Lennon, thought he deserved to win.

“I put the pressure on,” he said. “I made the fight.”

If nothing else, Ramirez (22-16-1) made Julio work for his 32nd victory in 33 fights. Ramirez came out bulling his way toward Julio and throwing heavy combinations. He connected with many of them through the first three rounds and he had Julio backing up and throwing only a few weak counterpunches.

But in the fourth round, Julio began to land uppercuts and left hooks to Ramirez’s head. Ramirez, a 28-year-old from Los Angeles, never slowed down his attack but he began telegraphing his punches and Julio used his quickness to dodge most of the looping left and right hands.

Julio dominated the second half of the fight even though Ramirez was throwing the heavier punches.

“I expected a tough fight, but I also expected I’d be able to knock him out at any time,” said Julio, 27.

In the 10th round, Julio did his best Sugar Ray Leonard imitation by dodging most of Ramirez’s relentless attack and laughing while doing it.

“Before the round, we said to each other that we wanted to put on a show and make the crowd remember us,” Julio said.

In the semi-main event, welterweight Alfred Ankamah (15-1) of Los Angeles knocked out Oscar Checa of San Miguel, Panama, in the fourth round. Ankamah, who had only fought twice since suffering a devastating first-round knockout 16 months ago, started tentatively.

He stayed outside for the first two rounds, feeling his way with left jabs. But in the third round, he landed a big left hook that sent Checa down. He put Checa down again early in the fourth with right hand and then finished him with another left hook that sent Checa face first into the canvas.

“I knew he was stronger than me so I wanted to take my time and take his advantage away,” Ankamah said. “By the third round, I knew I could take him down.”

Ankamah said he is beginning to recover from his loss to James Page in March of 1995. Ankamah, ranked 20th by the World Boxing Council, had shoulder surgery after the loss and took nine months off to recuperate.

“That was not me,” he said. “I’m totally healthy now and I don’t even think about that fight anymore.”

On the undercard, Los Angeles flyweight Sammy Stewart (13-5-2) recovered from a sluggish start to stop Mexico City’s Miguel Angel Granados (16-4-1) in seven rounds. Stewart appeared to be outmatched early by Granados, who was landing heavy combinations to Stewart’s body and head.

But by the fourth round, Granados started to wear down and Stewart appeared to get stronger. He began landing uppercuts to Granados’ jaw in the fourth and in the middle of the sixth round, ring doctor Adam Karns looked at the cuts inside Granados’ mouth.

In the seventh, Stewart backed Granados into the ropes with combinations. After the round, Karns asked Granados if he wanted to continue. When Granados didn’t answer, Karns stopped the scheduled 10-round bout.

Super featherweight Sergio Macias (9-4) of Pacoima won a six-round decision over John Walker of Detroit (9-2).