BOXING: LOCAL BOXING EYES ON RAMIREZ TONIGHT AT THE ARMORY

Minnesota welterweight Celso “El Nino” Ramirez (7-1, 7 KO’s) makes his Minneapolis boxing return tonight at the historic Armory. PBC on Fox will showcase four televised fights which is headlined by the jr. middleweight clash between Erislandy Lara and Ramon Alvarez. The Minneapolis Armory doors open at 4 PM with the first of 14 bouts set to begin shortly after at 4:05 PM. The Fox PBC broadcast begins at 7 PM all Central Standard times. Local stars Jamal James and Caleb Truax will be signing autographs for fans from 5-6PM.

Ramirez, left, and Luckey, right, face off at Friday’s weigh-ins. Photo By Stephanie Trapp/TGB Promotions

It will be back to back hometown PBC fights for Ramirez when he battles 22-fight veteran Tyrone Luckey (9-10-3, 7 KO’s) of New Jersey. Ramirez faced Florida’s Willie Jones nearly a year ago today at the Armory.

As Robert Brizel of Real Combat Media Boxing pointed out, Luckey’s 10 losses include seven unbeaten prospects and two world champions, plus an additional loss to a fighter with a winning record. Luckey lost a split decision to future world champion Tevin Farmer, and was beaten by future world champion Jason Sosa. This will be another tough test for the Minnesotan who has anxiously waited to fight again.

Ramirez handled last years setback against Jones (round 2 TKO) with wisdom while promising just hours after his first defeat that he’d be back. Circle of Discipline training camps are intense but Ramirez says they turned it up even higher for this camp in preparation for the upset minded Luckey.

“Training camp was more than amazing” said the welterweight prospect. “It was a long, hard camp. We didn’t change much other than the fact that we trained even twice as hard.”

“This is my first fight back after a hard fight last year that didn’t go our way. We live and learn and that was left in the past. We prepare for every fight to come back stronger than ever to give the fans a great show.”

“Tyrone Luckey’s record isn’t the flashiest but he’s coming here to win and ready to try to take my spot. What I know about him like I said is that he’s coming here to fight and not just lay down. This is a tough test for me and the kind of fight we have prepared for. We are always ready for anything, like we say “We work hard to make it look easy”.

With Caleb Truax dropping off the card last week because of an Achilles injury, the 22 year-old Ramirez will be the focus of local boxing fans as he is the only widely recognized Minnesota fighter on the show now. Ramirez has packed smaller venues wall to wall and his fan base continues to grow while he progresses as a professional. Ramirez feeds off of the hometown crowd and believes there will be plenty of crowd support tonight.

Although technically the only Minnesotan represented on the 14 fight card, Cuban amateur star and recent Minnesota transplant Osvary Morrell who relocated to Minnesota last month will make his pro debut on the show. Morrell has been training at Circle of Discipline and Ramirez says Minnesota will have a chance to see something special when he debuts tonight.

” Of course we train together and have gotten to know each other very well. We are very good friends actually and all I have to say he’s very good. He’s about to make a statement as well on Saturday night so don’t miss out!”

“Don’t miss out on the show and EL NIÑO is back and ready to put on a show for family, friends, and fans. I am here to stay and make a statement Saturday night.”