Golden Boy Promotions is reportedly gearing up for an absolute crapshoot on April 27th, as Mike Coppinger reports that Jose Ramirez vs Rances Barthelemy will headline a Fresno show on DAZN alongside Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Thomas Dulorme.
There was clearly something in the water the night Ramirez (28-1, 18 KO) fell to Josh Taylor, as the former has been just as thorough in torching his career as the former. He’s fought just twice in the nearly three years since, defeating Jose Pedraza and Richard Commey while turning down both an eliminator with Liam Paro and title fights against Jose Zepeda, Regis Prograis, and Teofimo Lopez.
Barthelemy (30-2-1, 15 KO), now 38, edged out Omar Juarez last May to rebound from a questionable stoppage loss in his uncharacteristically watchable 2022 firefight with Gary Antuanne Russell. He’s still got something left in the tank, but I cannot fathom the idea of giving him a main event in 2024.
That said, it’s still by far the better matchup. Dulorme (26-6-1, 17 KO) is 1-3 in his last four, has never fought above 147, and hasn’t seen any action since beating 19-11 Abrahan Peralta in July 2022. Does anyone seriously think this will in any way prepare Ortiz (20-0, 20 KO) for Israil Madrimov? You can’t even say it’ll give him rounds when the last competent man to fight Dulorme put him down in 109 seconds.
Seriously, what is with fighters moving up in weight and then continuing to fight guys from their old division? Zurdo Ramirez dragging up Joe Smith Jr, Ryan Garcia fighting Oscar Duarte, etc. Just absolute weenie behavior.
There should at least be two semi-decent matchups that night, with Coppinger reporting JoJo Diaz vs Oscar Duarte and Jake Donovan naming Marlen Esparza vs Gabriela Alaniz 2, but I’d say GBP should be ashamed of themselves if I thought Oscar De La Hoya understood the concept.
