VALDEZ VS. RAMIREZ – ARIZONA’S FIRST SEVEN-ROUND FIGHT

Tucson, AZ – Oct. 23 –  When Tucson’s Jensen Ramirez (6-2-3, 1KO) squares off with Nogales’ Thomas Valdez (16-4-2, 6KO) at the Casino Del Sol’s AVA Amphitheater, it will be the first seven-round bout in Arizona’s history.  The featherweight bout headlines the Nov. 17 event, dubbed Guerra De Gallos.

Raging Babe’s Michelle Rosado had to think outside the box when negotiating the card’s main event.  One camp wanted an eight-round fight and one wanted a six. Rosado, consulting with her mentor, Hall-of-Fame Promoter J Russell Peltz, lamented the potential loss of a solid, local main event.  Peltz had a solution. “Why not meet in the middle and make it seven rounds?” Rosado was skeptical. “I told him to get outta here,” Rosado said.  “I was laughing, but Peltz wasn’t joking.  School was in session.”

There was a precedent.  Peltz told the story of “The Long-Haired Boxer” Edwin “Chu Chu” Malave vs. Harold Weston, Jr. in a welterweight bout that took place in August of 1971 at New York’s Madison Square Garden.  Malave wanted the bout to be eight rounds, and Weston wanted 10. The New York State Athletic Commission proposed that the bout be nine rounds. Malave went on to win a split decision, with two judges scoring the fight 5-4 in his favor, and the third scoring it 5-4 for Weston.

Rosado had her fight.

“I bought right into it when Russell told me about the Malave-Weston bout,” she said. “I knew we had a good fight, and there was something special about having a seven-round main event.”  Both Ramirez and Valdez’s teams agreed, and the Pascua Yacqui Commission sanctioned the seven-round bout. On Nov. 17, Tucson boxing fans will see Arizona’s first seven-round bout between two local “gallos.”

Raging Babe will host a press conference this Thursday, October 25 at Casino Del Sol’s Paradiso Lounge at 2 p.m.  The presser will be open to the public and will include a tribute to promoter Don Chargin.