One of the very best lightweights of his era, José Luis “Zurdo” Ramírez, always exhibited the quality and bravery of the Mexican boxer, and we remember this with pride.
One the best 135-pounders that Mexican boxing has produced, both because of his boxing quality and the excellence of the rivals he faced.
Born on December 3, 1958 in Huatabampo, Sonora, Mexico, his start in boxing was due to the humble environment in which he grew up. The sport was the best option to leave poverty. José Luis trained from a very young age in Huatabampo, in an improvised gym.
In 1975, with the dream of helping his mother and siblings, he arrived in Culiacán at the age of 15 to train with “Zurdo” Ramón Félix, who helped make him a world beater.
In Culiacán, he dedicated himself to training at the Morelos gym, along with Rodolfo and Rafael “Borrego” Chávez, Juan Antonio López, Fernando “Wary” Beltrán, and Genaro “Tigre” León, later joined by Julio César Chávez. All of them guided by Ramón Félix, also working in a street hotdog stand.
His professional debut took place in Huatabampo on March 25, 1973 at featherweight against Mario Amparán, defeating him by technical knockout in six rounds. His first 33 fights were in Tijuana and Ciudad Obregón, Los Mochis and Culiacán, being defeated by points over 10 rounds for the first time in his 23rd fight against Sergio Enríquez.
At 130 pounds, he defeated Aurelio Muñiz, his first international rival, on points on a card held in Los Mochis in 1977; his second defeat would come at 130 pounds in 1978 at the hands of the legendary Rubén “Púas” Olivares, who was the only one to defeat him by knockout. Olivares was looking to reposition himself in the ranking to achieve a new starting opportunity in the featherweight category.
Already at 135 pounds, and with 6 years of experience, Ramírez won the Mexican National title by defeating Betillo Gutiérrez in 9 rounds, in Ciudad Obregón, on June 15, 1979, the title he held until his first world championship opportunity.
On November 14, 1980, José Luis faced Nicaraguan Alexis Arguello in Miami, former featherweight and super featherweight world champion who had already ventured into lightweight realms and was preparing for his title match against British Jim Watt, the WBC lightweight champion. The southpaw was a worthy opponent, knocking down the Nicaraguan in round 6 and putting up a great fight; the judges scored 94-95, 94-97 in favor of Arguello and 98-95 in favor of Ramírez.
Already 71 wins on his record and still only 22 years old, he faced on July 19, 1981 the hard hitting Italian-American Ray Mancini, who was defending his NABF lightweight title. His first important opportunity was against the undefeated Puerto Rican knockout Edwin “Chapo” Rosario on May 1st 1983 at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for the vacant WBC lightweight title, where Rosario won by unanimous decision. 115-113.
The rematch was agreed for the following year at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium in Puerto Rico, Chapo made himself felt in the first round with his powerful punch knocking down the Mexican, and then Ramírez made a spectacular comeback inflicting intense punishment to the body.
He managed to end it by TKO in the fourth round, winning the World Boxing Council lightweight title, also taking Rosario’s undefeated record.
Ramírez’s first defense of his lightweight title was against undefeated Puerto Rican Héctor Camacho: the fight took place in Las Vegas. Camacho was not characterized as a puncher, his movements and fast hands made him an elusive and dangerous boxer. Ramírez fell at 1:51 of the third round and Camacho took the victory.
Two years after losing the title, Ramírez regained it by unanimous decision against former Olympic medalist Terrence Ali, later making his first defense against African Cornelius Boza Edwards, both fights in France.
At 29 years old and with more than 100 fights in his 15-year career, Zurdo made his second defense against undefeated former Olympic medalist Pernell Whitaker in France on March 13, 1988.
On October 29, 1988, for a good purse, he faced an eventful fight against his compadre Julio César Chávez. The fight, which took place in Las Vegas, ended by technical decision in the eleventh round, due to a clash of heads in which Ramírez was cut.
The rematch against Whitaker took place in August 1989, when the IBF lightweight title that the American had and the vacant WBC title were at stake. This time Whitaker won by a wide margin, scoring the judges 120-108, 120-109 and 117-111.
The following year he returned to France to face Argentine Juan Martin Coggi for the WBA super lightweight world title, who defeated him by unanimous decision, and Ramirez decided to hang the gloves.
At the end of his career, he suffered the loss of his trainer Ramón Félix, which was one of the reasons that led him to opt for retirement. During 17 years as a professional he accumulated a record of 102 wins, 8 losses and 82 KOs.
test