Mizuki Hiruta defends her junior bantamweight title in dismantling of Maribel Ramirez

COMMERCE, California – Hours after Los Angeles was electrified by the Dodgers’ signing of phenomenal Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki, new WBO women’s junior bantamweight titleholder Mizuki Hiruta, of Japan, delivered the city another charge Friday with her second title defense.

Flashing rapid, thunderous power, the left-handed Hiruta repeatedly kept challenger Maribel Ramirez in check, piling up rounds before an accidental head-butt early in the eighth round sent the bout to the scorecards, giving Hiruta a unanimous decision victory at Commerce Casino.

Judges scored the bout 80-71, 79-72, 80-71 for Hiruta.

In her second title defense after winning the belt in 2023, Hiruta, 7-0 (3 KOs), knocked down Ramirez in the second round with a right to the head and kept the repetitive punching pressure on, cutting and dropping the wounded challenger to 15-11-4.  

Leading up to the co-main, super middleweight Ali Akhmedov, 24-1, recorded his 18th knockout in 24 fights by finishing Malcolm Jones 1 minute and 17 seconds into the second round.

With her friend Ryan Garcia looking on at ringside, Los Angeles’ “Right Hook” Roxy Verduzco immediately opened a cut on opponent Lindsey Ellis in the first round, and hammered her with a barrage in the second to bring roars from the crowd.

In the third, Verduzco recorded her first knockout, ending the bout 1 minute and 34 seconds into the frame when referee Ray Corona stopped the fight due to Ellis’ bleeding.

Unbeaten junior featherweight Adan Palma, 11-0, dealt with an evasive Sharone Carter and worked through the frustration of not finding the veteran to collect a split decision victory, 59-55, 56-58, 58-56.

When he wasn’t retreating, Carter, 14-9-1, became overexuberant in his pursuit of Palma, punching on breaks and causing referee and former UFC fighter Chris Leben to push Carter away and scold him for the behavior.

In an all-out slugfest, Gloria Munguilla outworked Brook Sibrian in the judges’ eyes by scores of 77-75, 79-73, 77-75 in a junior flyweight bout. Mungilla, of Los Angeles, improved to 7-1.

Kevin Anton, a 6ft 3in junior middleweight bearing some fighting resemblance to the division’s unified titleholder, Sebastian Fundora, displayed effective range and landed hurtful, whipping punches on his well-traveled opponent, Cameron Krael, 21-34-3, to claim a unanimous decision, 60-54, 60-54, 60-54.

Despite losing his knockout streak, the left-handed Anton, 9-0 (8 KOs), kept Krael backpedaling and absorbing a wealth of damage that prompted two ringside physician inspections before Krael – with just three knockout losses in his bunch of defeats – made it back to his corner to hear the judges’ one-sided scores.

Junior bantamweight Alexander Gueche, 7-0, displayed a versatile array of punching ability in defeating Lito Dante by unanimous decision scores of 60-52, 60-52, 60-52.

Gueche, 19, subjected the shorter veteran Dante, 21-14-4, to rapid hooks, effective uppercuts and snapping jabs while backing him up with power right hands, scoring a fifth-round knockdown. 

In the opening bout, lightweight Tayden Beltran, 10-0-1 (5 KOs), of Huntington Beach, California, applied continued punching pressure on Eugene Lagos, who couldn’t continue after three rounds due to a shoulder injury.

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.