Rafael Espinoza Stops Robeisy, Targets Navarrete’s WBO 130-lb Crown

Rafael Espinoza says he’s open to fighting WBO super featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete following his sixth-round technical knockout victory over Robeisy Ramirez in their rematch last Saturday night at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

Navarrete might be too big of a puncher for lanky Rafael Espinoza to deal with if he were to move up to super featherweight to challenge him for his WBO title. The money would potentially be better for Espinoza than staying at 126, but it would be a risky fight.

Navarrete destroyed a completely overmatched Oscar Valdez (32-3, 24 KOs) in the sixth round in the main event last night. He dropped Valdez three times in the fight and scored a body shot knockout in the sixth round. It was a 100% needless rematch, as Navarrete had already easily beaten Valdez last year, winning a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision on August 12, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona. The fight was NOT competitive.

Robeisy’s Decline

WBO featherweight champion Espinoza (26-0, 22 KOs) forced the two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy (14-3, 9 KOs) to quit in the sixth round when he caught him with sharp right hand straight down the pipe. Robeisy turned around immediately and quit. Espinoza showed his class by not belting him at the moment, as he was defenseless would have been at the mercy of a the 6’1″ Mexican champion.

Ramirez, 30, claimed he had double vision in his right eye from the elbows that Espinoza had caught him with beginning in the fourth round. However, there was no swelling on that eye in that round or the fifth. It was only until the sixth round that Robeisy’s right eye swelled, and that came after the the right hand that Espinoza landed that forced him to quit. Ramirez’s eye did well visibly immediately after the fight and he did not look good.

The former WBO 126-lb champion Ramirez lost his title to Espinoza in their first fight on December 9th last year, losing a 12-round majority decision in a competitive contest. Ramirez gassed out from the fast pace that Espinoza put on him in the second half and was dropped in the 12th round of that contest.

With the loss, Ramirez’s brief time as a top-level fighter may have ended. The Cuban Robeisy is an old-looking 30, and nowhere near the same fighter, he was when he captured two gold medals in the 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio de Janeiro.

Those medals were won at Flyweight and bantamweight for Robeisy. Ramirez doesn’t look cut out for the weight class at featherweight, but it’s unlikely he could trim down to compete at 118 or 112 at his age. Is it time for Robeisy to retire? It might be. Either way, Top Rank has to consider whether to re-sign him when his contract ends.

Espinoza’s Statement

“I think he was frustrated by the pressure. I know he was connecting, and he noticed that it wasn’t causing any damage to me. So, mentally, I was strong, and I think I could do better than him mentally as well. He was fatigued, and he was barely landing on me,” said Rafael Espinoza during the post-fight press conference, talking about Robeisy Ramirez. “He lost in that mental game.

“I could have fought somebody else, but I wanted this fight,” Espinoza said about his rematch with the Cuban Ramirez. “He could be a champion. That could happen.

“I want the best fights. I want to unify and move up.”