On Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Costa Rica's David “Medallita” Jimenez, 114.8 pounds, upset previously unbeaten John “Scrappy” Ramirez, 114.2 lbs., of Los Angeles to capture the vacant interim WBA super flyweight title. Fighting on the Devin Haney-Ryan Garcia undercard, Ramirez attempted to set the pace early on and box from a distance, but was largely ineffective. The action heated up in round seven with Jimenez having closed the gap and both combatants standing shoulder-to-shoulder trading heavy punches. The Costa Rican outworked Ramirez for much of the fight, often targeting the body when on the inside. Ramirez was badly hurt by a barrage of shots near the end of round nine. As the fight ended, Ramirez wore the damage of the previous 36 minutes of combat on his face, with blood streaming from his right eye. 

 

Scorecards read 117-111 (twice) and 116-112, all for Jimenez via unanimous decision. In seizing the title, Jimenez improved to 16-1 (11 KOs) while adding the first loss to Ramirez’s record, now 13-1 (9 KOs). Jimenez’s only defeat came against Artem Dalakian in January 2023, challenging for the WBA world flyweight crown. The full WBA champion is Japan's legendary Kazuto Ioka, who is set for unification with IBF counterpart Fernando Martinez in his next fight.

 

“I am very happy to become a champion again,” said Jimenez. “I am ready to plan for what’s next. I felt great in the ring, and I felt like I was controlling the fight from the second round. Scrappy has a good punch and is a good boxer. Like all fighters, I want to become undisputed.”