Albert Ramirez drops Lenin Castillo to win unanimous decision in Monaco

World-rated light heavyweight Albert Ramirez won a 10-round unanimous decision Saturday over former title challenger Lenin Castillo at the Chapiteau de l’Espace in Fontvieille, Monaco.

The heavy-handed Venezuelan started off using some movement and kept his opponent away with his flicking jab. Ramirez (17-0, 15 knockouts) walked Castillo (24-5-1, 19 KOs) in to a right hand in round 4 and dropped him for a count but the Dominican fought on gamely.

Castillo was able to come into the fight in the later stages when Ramirez looked tired. At the conclusion Ramirez was ahead on all three scorecards 97-92, 96-93 and 95-94.

“We were planning to go for 10-rounds,” said Ramirez, who was a more workmanlike than spectacular. “I was expecting [him to go down] but when I caught him with the hook it was a solid punch that we worked on in the gym. That impressed me because Lenin Castillo is a very tough fighter. I’m really happy with my performance.”

Olympic silver medalist and three-time World Championships gold medalist Sofiane Oumiha returned to the professional ranks and scored an impressive sixth-round knockout over Nicolas Blanco.

The quick-fisted Oumiha (4-0, 3 KOs) repeatedly beat his opponent to the punch and scored an early knocked down and then closed the show at 2:59 of Round 6 after dropping Blanco (9-1, 0 KOs). The visitors’ corner had seen enough and threw in the towel.

The only professional boxer from Monaco, Hugo Micallef thrilled his supported by stopping Denis Bartos in the opening round of their junior middleweight bout. Micallef moves to (8-0, 1 KO), while Bartos drops to 12-8 (8 KOs).

Ibrahima Diallo had a harder time than expected with Pierre Rossadini and had to settle for a six-round draw in the middleweight bout. One judge scored it 58-56 for Diallo, another 58-56 for Rossadini and the third judge scored it 57-57. Diallo is now (7-0-1, 0 KOs) and Rossadini moves to (4-5-2, 0 KOs).

The event was a pro/ amateur show had seven amateur fights featuring some of the biggest names in the unpaid ranks.

Two-time World Championship bronze medalist Lasha Gurulli dropped Alexandru Parachiv in the opening round en route to a five-round unanimous decision in their welterweight fight.

Unheralded light heavyweight Gradus Kraus upset two-time Olympic gold medalist Arlen Lopez by five-round unanimous decision.

In middleweight action Salvatore Cavallero won a five-round split decision over Rayis Nurukant.

Spainish super heavyweight Marko Milun dropped Cuba’s Fernando Arzola in the third and forth rounds on his way to a five-round unanimous decision.

Pavel Fedorov won a hard-fought five-round split decision over Malik Hassanov.

Two-time World Championship heavyweight silver medalist Aziz Abbes Mouhidine bested Narek Manasyan by five-round unanimous decision. 

In total 16 different nations were represented on the card.

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at elraincoat@live.co.uk and you can follow him on 

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