Former WBO featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez faces contender Brandon Leon Benitez in a bounce-back ten-round fight this Saturday, June 29th, at the James L. Knight Center in Miami. The event will be on ESPN and ESPN+ at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT. In the headliner, Teofimo Lopez defends against Steve Claggett.
(Courtesy: Mikey Williams/Top Rank)
Brandon Leon Benitez (21-2, 9 KOs) is ranked #6 WBO and #7 IBF at featherweight and a tough opponent for Robeisy, 30, to be fighting with his coming off a loss in his previous outing.
Robeisy’s promoters at Top Rank likely feel it’s essential for the #2 WBC and #4 WBO contender to fight a high-caliber guy like Benavidez, 26, to get him ready to fight for his former WBO title.
The two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist Robeisy (13-2, 8 KOs) was dethroned by Rafael Espinoza in an upset twelve-round split decision loss in his last fight on December 9, 2023. Robeisy knocked the 6’1″ Espinoza down in the fifth but dropped him in the twelfth. The scores were 113-113, 114-112, 115-111 for Espinoza.
That fight showed that Robeisy needs to be in better condition, throw more punches, and be more aggressive against fighters who use volume punching. Espinoza is a special case because he’s a freak of nature in height and reach for the 126-lb division.
Although Espinoza didn’t use his reach to fight on the outside against Robeisy, it was still difficult to track his punches because of the long looping way he was throwing them. What Robeisy needed to do was throw more straight shots down the pipe to take advantage of Espinoza’s style, but that was risky because of the uppercuts that he was throwing and the short-body punches.
It was difficult for Robeisy to deal with all the angles Espinoza was throwing in their fight, which eventually wore him down. It didn’t help that Robeisy looked chunky in that fight and not in the shape he needed for that problematic opponent.
“Yeah, maybe,” said Robeisy to Fighthype when asked if he wants a rematch with Rafael Espinoza to avenge his loss to him from last December.
“I know Robeisy wasn’t well-trained for that fight. I know he didn’t do strength or conditioning or any of that stuff, and he dropped him,” said Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero, talking about Robeisy’s loss to the tall 6’1″ Espinoza.
“For a dude that much, it’s always going to be hard. Let’s see how it goes. If Robeisy wins, they make that fight happen again. It’ll be a bigger fight.”
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