Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez remains undefeated at Glendale Glory 4

GLENDALE – As debuts go, super middleweight boxer Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez enjoyed a double victory in the headline fight at Glendale Glory 4 at the Glendale Civic Auditorium on Saturday evening.

The 21-year-old fighter made his United States and Top Rank Boxing debut a memorable one even if his bout likely wouldn’t classify as such, as he had no problems in defeating journeyman Derrick Findley in a 10-round unanimous decision.

PHOTOS: Glendale Glory boxing at Civic Auditorium

All three judges scored the fight exactly the same at 100-90.

“I’m satisfied with the win, but there were errors and my trainers and I are going to look over what we did wrong and improve,” said Ramirez, who improved to 26-0.

There were some questions as to how Ramirez would perform since he dropped six pounds and one weight class, from middleweight, to fight.

Yet, perhaps it’s fair to say Ramirez was hardly challenged by the 29-year-old Findley (20-11), as the 5-foot-6 brawler had difficulty overcoming the size gap with the 6-2 1/2 Ramirez.

Other than a mid-round flurry in the third for Findley and a few productive counterpunches in the 10th, Findley appeared little more than a punching bag at times

In fact, Findley threw two punches each in the eighth and ninth rounds, much to the chagrin of a crowd not shy about dishing out catcalls toward the Gary, ID fighter dubbed “Superman.”

When Findley did connect in the 10th, he flustered Ramirez as the Mexican national slipped and hit the canvas.

However, the majority of the fight involved a series of menacing jabs from Ramirez, who bloodied Findley’s nose in the third round and had him on the ropes most of the night.

“It really wasn’t a big sacrifice or difficulty changing weights,” Ramirez said. “I’m still eating well, eating rice and pasta, eating four times a day.”

Ramirez’s win was one of two guaranteed fights televised on Unimas, with a six-round bantamweight bout between San Pedro’s Isaac Zarate and Oxnard’s Erik Ruiz also on tap.

The bout provided one of the night’s thrills as Zarate (6-1) delivered a stunning upset, knocking Ruiz, who is trained by Robert Garcia, from the ranks of the unbeaten (9-1) with a majority decision.

The judges scored the fight 57-57, 60-54, and 58-56 for Zarate, who appeared to be pummeled in the second and third rounds. The Glendale News-Press scored the fight 57-57.

Yet, Zarate battled behind a quick and fierce jab and delivered some punishing body blows in rallying over the final two rounds.

“He was quick, but I knew I could get him with my jab,” Zarate said. “Once the fight was over, I knew I won.”

One of the quicker bouts of the night was the second as Jessie Magdaleno (16-0, 12 KOs) knocked out Luis Maldonado (36-12-1) at 1:10 in the third round in a super bantamweight bout.

Magdaleno, who was recently named the Prospect of the Year by the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame, brought Maldonado to his knees 20 seconds earlier with a vicious five-punch combination that ended in an uppercut and canvas visit by Maldonado.

“I just got the award a couple of weeks ago, while I was training in camp,” Magdaleno said of his prospect prize. “So, to come out and get a knockout right after is great. It’s what I was hoping for.”

In other action, Andrew Ruiz won a unanimous decision (59-55, 59-55, and 58-56) over Joaquin Chavez in six rounds in super lightweight action to start off the evening.

Ruiz (6-0) did this despite suffering a cut under his right eye in the third round and taking a beating in the fifth, beginning when he missed on a jab midway through the round and Chavez (5-10-2) responded by catching him flush with a devastating blow to the chin.

Rob Frankel (32-14-1) and Anton Novikov (27-0) both suffered bloody cuts under their right eyes in the second and third rounds, respectively, but both bled on until Novikov, trained by Freddie Roach, won a unanimous decision, 100-90, 99-91, and 99-91 in a super lightweight fight.

Super Bantamweight Alexis Hernandez was unable to finish four rounds versus Victor Pasillas (4-0, 2 KOs) as his camp threw in the towel 48 seconds into the fourth round of their fight.

Hernandez (3-2) had slipped and fell in the first and never fully recovered, taking poundings in the second and third rounds.

Lightweight Luis Bello (5-0) picked up his second-ever knockout at 1:59 in third round over Oscar Diaz; Britain Liam Vaughn (8-1, 2 KOs) knocked out Mike Alexander at 2:53 in the third round of their super welterweight bout and Dimash Niyazov (4-0) won his super lightweight bout versus Will Fauth when Fauth was unable to continue after an injury in the second round.