Once-beaten contender John “Scrappy” Ramirez looks to return to winning ways and secure his next shot at a world title. The super flyweight contender challenged David Jimenez for the vacant WBA interim belt in April, but dropped a unanimous decision.
28-year-old Ramirez (13-1, 9 KOs) wants to make amends and face Jimenez (16-1, 11 KOs) for the second time. The Los Angeles native seeks to take revenge on the 32-year-old Costa Rican.
“I learned I have what it takes to be world champion,” John Ramirez said. “I took the loss and, instead of complaining, right after that fight I started to think about what had happened and why. I have the skills and I’m capable of being world champion, but I fought his [Jimenez] fight. My next fight I won’t be fighting on emotion, I’ll be using my brain. I need to use my brain, not my heart. It was a good fight and entertaining, but it wasn’t my night. Personally, I gained confidence, as crazy as that may sound in a loss. I know I belong here.”
“I want to fix what went wrong. I have high expectations and so do my fans because they see my talent. I’ve only been fighting eight years. I get mad sometimes because I haven’t mastered my craft, but it takes time. I have to keep going and embrace my training.”
“I’m not training as hard every day because I’m taking better care of my body. I’ve come up with some new things by studying old-school fighters like Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns. I’m fine-tuning my skills. I made a mistake fighting with my heart instead of my head. No drastic changes in my training, though. I’m working on throwing more counters. I’m a big 115-pounder who just walked down my opponent. I’m going to use my jab, I have a good one, and my feet instead of sitting in the pocket and catching everything.”
“It’s all part of the process. I’m not happy it [loss] happened. I lost my first world title fight and in my second I’ll be the winner and show everybody the type of character I have as a man. I’ll take the next opportunity to show my growth.”
‘I screwed up but the next world title shot I’ll get it right’
“I want a rematch with this guy [Jimenez], partly because he has the belt, but to prove to myself I can beat him. He did everything we saw on film: He came forward and didn’t tire. No surprises. I need to fight my fight, not his, to prove myself to the world. ‘Scrappy’ needs to fight his fight.”
“I’ve reflected on that fight, and I was capable of beating him. He has a big amateur pedigree, so it was a confidence builder for me in defeat.”
“Everything really happened so fast, but I now know that it takes a long time to master my craft. I’m enjoying this process and I’m happy right now. I got used to things happening fast for me. I’m trusting the process. I chose this life.”
“I’m not running away from this situation, and I’ll handle it the next time I fight for the world title. I can’t blame anybody for what happened, because once I step into the ring, it’s just me and my opponent. I screwed up but the next world title shot I’ll get it right.”
The championship lineup at 115 lbs currently looks as the following: WBC champion Jesse Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) of San Antonio faces Mexico’s interim titleholder Pedro Guevara (42-4-1, 22 KOs) on November 9 in Philadelphia. South African southpaw Phumelele Cafu (11-0, 3 8 KOs) is a newly crowned WBO champion with the win by split decision against Kosei Tanaka in October. Fernando Martinez (17-0, 9 KOs) of Argentina defeated Kazuto Ioka by unanimous decision in July to become a unified IBF and WBA champion.