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Hometown hero Jose Ramirez set up his first world title shot, and Artur Beterbiev cashed in on his tonight in Fresno, California, in front of a big and raucous crowd on ESPN.
Ramirez (21-0, 16 KO) knocked out Mike Reed (23-1-1, 12 KO) in the second round, and now has a fight set with Amir Imam (21-1, 18 KO) for the vacant WBC junior welterweight title, recently vacated by Terence Crawford.
Ramirez and Reed both came out looking sharp, but Ramirez dropped Reed in the second, and then vigorously attacked Reed against the ropes, forcing the referee to step in and stop the fight.
In the co-feature, Artur Beterbiev improved to 12-0 (12 KO) with a 12th round knockout of Enrico Koelling in what was frankly a deadly dull fight, winning the vacant IBF light heavyweight title, one of the belts given up when Andre Ward retired from the sport.
Beterbiev dropped Koelling (23-2, 6 KO) twice in the final round.