On New Year's Eve in Anaheim, live on Showtime, Rico Ramos will defend the WBA super bantamweight title against Cuban amateur legend Guillermo Rigondeaux. The fight will be paired with a bout from IBF light heavyweight titlist Tavoris Cloud, who was originally scheduled to face Zsolt Erdei, but is now looking for an opponent after Erdei suffered a hand injury in camp.
Here's what Ramos (20-0, 11 KO) had to say ahead of the fight:
And here are quick comments from Rigondeaux (8-0, 6 KO):
This is an interesting fight in some ways, but boy, to be honest, it could be a real snoozer. Both Ramos and Rigondeaux have the ability to stink out a fight. But who knows? Less appealing matchups than this one have turned out to be plenty interesting in the past. I didn't think Sturm vs Murray on Friday would be any good, but that was a fine fight.
Anyone planning to stay in New Year's Eve and watch this one? New Year's Eve fight cards are a staple in Japan, and as I get older, I have less and less desire to do much of anything on December 31st that doesn't include drinking bourbon in my house, so I'm pretty excited to have something to watch while I drink bourbon in my house.
Full presser video after the jump.