The former WBC/WBO 140-pound champ didn’t do enough, however, to convince the judges that he deserved to win an action-packed, 10-round welterweight fight against Alexis Rocha at T-Mobile Arena.

Ramirez got off to a strong start, but Kermit Bayless (98-91), Max De Luca (98-91) and Chris Migliore (97-92) all favored Rocha’s counterpunching and awarded him with a unanimous points victory.

Though Ramirez didn’t seem to get the credit on the cards he deserved, he and Rocha provided plenty of entertainment throughout a fan-friendly fight that was buried on the undercard of a Ring and Zuffa Boxing event that’ll feature Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn in the main event.

Rocha (27-2-1, 16 KOs), of Santa Ana, California, entered their bout ranked No. 9 among The Ring’s welterweight contenders. He was a 4-1 favorite to beat Ramirez according to most sportsbooks.

Ramirez (29-4, 18 KOs), of Avenal, California, fought for the first time since Devin Haney beat him by unanimous decision in May 2025. He has lost three straight fights to Arnold Barboza, Haney and Rocha.

Ramirez and Rocha, 29, went at it during a spirited 10th round as if both knew the result was up for grabs. Ramirez attacked the body recklessly in those final three minutes, but Rocha connected with left hands.

Referee Celestino Ruiz gave Rocha time to recover with 1:32 to go in the ninth, after a hard, accidental clash of heads opened a cut around his right eye. Ramirez had drilled him with a flush right just before their heads came together.

Ramirez pounced as soon as Ruiz brought them back together, but Rocha threw hard punches back at him. Ruiz counted a knockdown for Rocha with 50 seconds to go in the ninth, though Ramirez protested it was their tangled feet that caused it.

Rocha’s rally continued during the eighth. He landed the more effective punches, including a left that snapped Ramirez’s head back.

In the first fight Saturday, lightweight Sean Garcia, Ryan Garcia’s younger brother, beat a game Abraham Morales by majority decision in a six-rounder.

Garcia (8-1-1, 2 KOs) scored a knockdown in the third round and won by the same score, 58-54, on the cards of judges Lisa Giampa and David Sutherland. Judge Patricia Morse Jarman scored the action 56-56.

Morales protested the knockdown referee Robert Hoyle counted for Garcia with just under a minute to go in the third round. He believed Garcia’s right hook landed to the back of his head.

That shot didn’t hurt Morales, but Garcia, 25, knocked him off balance with a straight left in the fourth round and countered his shorter, aggressive opponent well enough thereafter to win their competitive fight.

Garcia, of Victorville, California, fought for the first time since a sixth-round knockout defeat to Amado Vargas in July 2024. Mexico’s Morales (4-2, 2 KOs) lost for the second time in his past three fights.