By: Sean Crose
The 17-1 Luis Melendez was on Saturday’s Davis-Romero Pay Pew View undercard at Brooklyn’s Barclay’s Center. The junior lightweight’s opponent was the 26-2-3 Eduardo Ramirez and the match was a scheduled ten rounder. The opening chapter was essentially a feeling out process for each fighter. The second round was a relatively flat footed affair, though Ramirez began to assert himself in the final minute, coming forward effectively behind a high guard.
Things began to pick up in the third, as the southpaw Ramirez began to land on – and hurt – his man. Melendez began the fourth, however, by landing quite well himself. Ramirez moved in to reassert his dominance and got in strong shots of his own. The fifth was rather thrilling, with each fighter in close, firing away. The sixth had both men continuing to grind on the inside. It had become an exciting fight.
Melendez looked to be slowing down a bit in the seventh. Ramirez largely controlled the tempo in the eighth. The ninth was a brawl as each exhausted fighter struggled to get the edge over the other. The 10th and final round was a matter of styles, as Ramirez played the puncher and Melendez the boxer.
The judges gave Ramirez the nod via a majority decision.