At the Treasure Island Casino in Las Vegas Saturday night, in a battle of unbeaten featherweights, Casey Ramos (23-1, 6KO's) from Austin, Texas took on the tough Andy "The Shark" Vences (17-0, 10 KO's) from San Jose, California. Ramos came out calm and calculated as he stalked his opponent, Vences, who came out jabbing with his longer reach and dancing around the ring. Both fighters were using the first round to determine what would come in the latter rounds in this battle for the WBC Continental Americas super featherweight title. Vences ended the first round by landing a clean uppercut to the chin of Ramos, who shook it off and the bell sounded.
It was clear from the outset that the taller Vences was using his height and reach to his advantage as he snapped his jab and countered as Ramos attempted to get in on the inside.
In the third round, Ramos began to find his reach and he landed a good left hook to the head of Vences, and he appeared to have won the round.
Fighting on the eve of the Pacman v. Vargas fight, Ramos had said that he was excited to mix it up with Vences for the WBC title.
In the middle rounds, Ramos landed a nice overhand right as he pressed the fight against Vences. But Vences then switched to the southpaw stance and landed a good left hand and countered everything that Ramos threw at him.
It was Ramos who now began to connect with his combinations, as they both exchanged hard punches in the middle of the ring.
At the beginning of the sixth round, Ramos had a cut over his left eye, but according to television analysts ringside, he was ahead on the cards. It was in this round, that Ramos appeared to be controlling the fight. Ramos continued to pressure Vences in the seventh round, but now he was bleeding from his mouth. Again, Vences switched to southpaw, but only for a few seconds at the end of the round, as Ramos continued with the pressure.
At the begging of the eighth round, Ramos' cut over his left eye was bleeding badly, and the fight was stopped momentarily for the doctor to check out the cut. Ramos was allowed to continue the round and Vences began to aim his jabs to the left eye of Ramos. At this point, despite Ramos being cut, ringside commentators still had Ramos ahead by a close margin.
But in the ninth round, an accidental clash of heads caused another cut at the middle of Ramos' forehead, which was bleeding badly in addition to the other cut under his left eye. Because of the severity of the cuts, the fight was stopped at 1:12 of the ninth round and the decision went to the scorecards. The cards read 87-84, 86-85, and 88-83 and Vences went on to win by a unanimous technical decision, although the fight appeared much closer.
Undercard: Alex Saucedo v. Raymond Serrano.
In the co-main event, Alex Saucedo (23-0, 14 KO's) from Chihuahua, Mexico, remained undefeated with a tough match against Raymond Serrano (21-4, 9 KO's) from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Saucedo, who is now trained by the renowned Abel Sanchez, who trains middleweight king, Gennady Glolovkin (36-0, 33 KO's), was given a good test by the quick-handed Serrano and he passed it.
Saucedo came out quickly in the first round landing heavy punches and being first with the action against Serrano.
And in the second round, Saucedo landed a right hand that put Serrano on the canvas. Serrano recovered quickly from the knockdown and he survived the round.
Despite the knockdown, Serrano came back at the end of the middle rounds and held his own until the end of the fight. Saucedo finished up the fight by drawing blood from the the mouth and nose of Serrano as he walked him down in the final seconds of the eighth and final round of the fight. Saucedo went on to win by unanimous decision.