Former WBO featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez faces challenger Brandon Leon Benitez in a ten-round bout this Saturday, June 29, at the James L. Knight Center in Miami. The event will air on ESPN and ESPN+ at 10:00 pm ET/7:00 pm PT. In the headliner, Teofimo Lopez defends Steve Claggett.
(Courtesy: Mikey Williams/Top Position)
Brandon Leon Benitez (21-2, 9 KOs) is ranked #6 WBO and #7 IBF at featherweight and a strong opponent for the 30-year-old Robeisy, who is coming off a loss in his previous outing.
Robeisy’s promoters at Top Rank may see it as important to have the #2 WBC and #4 WBO contender fight a top-ranked guy like Benavidez, 26, to prepare him to fight for his former WBO title.
Two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist Robeisy (13-2, 8 KOs) was dethroned by Rafael Espinoza in a twelve-round decision loss in his last fight on December 9, 2023. Robeisy stands 6’1 ″ Espinoza in the fifth but he dropped him in the twelfth. The scores were 113-113, 114-112, 115-111 for Espinoza.
That fight showed that Robeisy needs to get in better shape, throw more punches, and be aggressive against fighters who use punching volume. Espinoza is a special case because he is unusually tall and reaches the 126-lb division.
Although Espinoza did not use his strength to fight outside against Robeisy, it was difficult to track his punches because of the long way they were thrown. All Robeisy had to do was throw straight shots down the pipe to use Espinoza’s style, but that was dangerous because of his uppercuts and short punches.
It was difficult for Robeisy to deal with all the angles that Espinoza threw at them in their fight, which eventually wore him down. It didn’t help that Robeisy looked a bit lumpy in that fight and not in the form he needed against that troubled opponent.
“Yeah, maybe,” Robeisy told Fighthype when asked if he wants a rematch with Rafael Espinoza to avenge his loss from last December.
“I know that Robeisy was not well trained for that fight. I know he didn’t do any strength or conditioning or any of those things, then he dropped him,” said Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero, referring to Robeisy’s loss to the 6’1″ Espinoza.
“For such a poor person, it is always difficult. Let’s see how it goes. If Robeisy wins, they make that fight happen again. It will be a big fight.”
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