Rafael Espinoza says he has improved from his previous fight against former WBO featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez last year on December 9 and will be ready to beat him for the second time this Saturday, December 7 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
(Credit: Top Rank)
Espinoza (25-0, 21 KOs) will defend his WBO 126-lb title against two-time gold medalist Robeisy (14-2, 9 KOs). The event will be broadcast live on ESPN and ESPN+ at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT.
The fight was very competitive until the 12th when Espinoza burst into a tiring Robeisi to drop him to win a 12-round majority decision.
No excuses
“When I’m in the race, I like to decide what I’m going to do and adapt to it. I do things so they don’t hurt me so much. I try to box and not get hit and leave it all in the ring,” Rafael Espinoza told Sean Zittel. channelreacting to being told that Robeisy Ramirez said he wants to get his shots in between his combinations Saturday.
“Sometimes I like to push forward to get the results I want to push the gas. I’ll try to do everything smart in the ring,” Espinoza continued. “I don’t know what happened to him, but I expect the best version of Robeisy. I want the best version and I don’t want excuses. I will also try to give the best version of myself.”
Espinoza will be hit hard in this fight and has to hope he can take Robeisy’s power because he was close to being knocked out in the fifth round after being knocked down. It was fortunate for Espinoza that the knockdown came in the final seconds of the round.
“I’ve improved a lot since the first fight (with Ramirez) in all areas, physically with my strength. I worked on the mistakes I made so I could do things flawlessly. No distractions either, and my mindset is on top. So in the first fight, I didn’t give up, and in this second fight, that word doesn’t even cross my mind,” Espinoza said.
We don’t know if the 6’1″ Espinoza has improved since his win over Robeisi because he only fought once against a very victorious Sergio Quirino Sanchez, stopping him in the fourth round on June 21. Unfortunately, we won’t know if Espinoza has improve until he faces Robeisi this Saturday night.
Robeisy says he wasn’t at his best for the previous fight against Espinoza because his father was in the hospital and he wasn’t prepared. This time he believes he will be ready and have the right game plan to defeat Espinoza.
“I don’t like to say if I’m going to get knocked out because those words blow in the wind. Well, what I’m going to do is give it my best shot so there’s no doubt about what’s going on. I’ve been in this division for a long time (featherweight). I maintained myself well. It all depends on my body. I’d like to get together. If I can stay in this department, it won’t be a problem. I plan to stay in this department for a long time, no problems,” said Espinoza.
If Espinoza stays at 126, he will end up moving up that weight class and start taking losses. It may be best for him to move up to 130 while still fighting at a high level because he can take advantage of the money that would be available by fighting WBO super featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete. There is a winner-takes-all fight against WBC champion O’Shaquie Foster.
