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(continuation)
Ramos actually had the upper hand going into the bottom half of the bout, having gotten the better of an exciting second round and clearly winning the third. But Valentino would not be denied during the last three rounds, doing enough to claim an impressive victory. He rattled Ramos in the fourth with a left hook, right uppercut sequence and again in the final stanza with a crushing straight right.
The Mexican left the ring a dejected figure, the pain of losing his first bout and the knowledge that this loss would possibly cost him two spots in the group standings clear to see on his countenance...
Preliminary 2
Joe Beckett's shocking debut victory against Jack Johnson continued to fade further into insignificance as he fell to his third straight loss, going down by unanimous decision to New York's Renaldo Snipes (58-56, 59-55, 58-56).
"The Angry Englishman" put up a game showing, especially in rounds two, four and five, but he was simply outclassed by an opponent determined to capitalise on Manuel Ramos's defeat in the previous bout.
With his victory, Snipes improved his record to 3-1 and guaranteed that he would be placed at least 3rd in the Group Three standings by the time the night was over.
There were no knockdowns in the bout, but Snipes was able to put on a performance that was closer to his debut drubbing of Pedro Lovell than either of his last two showings were.
"I've got the big guy Jacky J. in my next bout," Snipes said. "So this was a must win fight, 'cause I can't see him losing in tonight's main event. I think that if I can train to the best of my ability and come without any doubts in my mind, I have a good chance of beating him. I mean, Joe showed back in January that the guy can be beaten. I'll take a lot of encouragement from that."
As for Joe Beckett, he'll return home with a 1-3 record but he was positive about his future during the post fight interview.
"Well, the most difficult fights are out of the way for me now," he said. "I guess another victory would have been nice, but I'm looking forward to my upcoming bouts. I'm confident that I can score a few wins before this tournament is over for me."
(to be continued)
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