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Tonight at 10 pm EST on truTV, Gilberto Ramirez returns to action in the Friday Night Knockout main event against Gevorg Khatchikian in a 10-round super middleweight bout at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Ramirez (32-0, 24 KO) was felt to be nearing contender status in the division when he faced Maxim Vlasov on HBO in January of this year, but a middling performance has resulted in his push being scaled back a bit. In June, he beat veteran Derek Edwards handily on truTV, and tonight faces Khatchikian (23-1, 11 KO), whose biggest fight to date -- and really his only notable fight -- came in 2014 against James DeGale. DeGale stopped Khatchikian in the 11th round. In other words, Ramirez will be expected to look impressive in this fight.
Also on the card is a meeting of lightweight prospects, as Ivan Najera (16-1, 8 KO) faces Saul Rodriguez (18-0-1, 13 KO) in a 10-round bout. And 23-year-old welterweight prospect Konstantin Ponomarev (28-0, 13 KO) will take on Ramses Agaton (17-2-3, 9 KO) in an eight-round fight.