Ronny Rios wins NABF Title with win over Ramos

On Friday, Rico Ramos (R) did battle with Ronny Rios for the NABF Championship. In their hard fought battle Ramos is seen getting caught by a left hook. Photo: Tom Casino/Showtime

Indio, CA (January 12, 2013) – Ronny Rios (20-0, 9 KOs) of Santa Ana, CA, remained undefeated and captured the vacant NABF Featherweight Title with an unanimous 10-round decision over former WBA Super Bantamweight World Champion Rico Ramos (21-2, 11 KOs) of Los Angeles in Friday’s main event on ShoBox: The New Generation from the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino.

Rico Ramos (L) is shown landing a short left uppercut on Ronny Rios’ chin. Photo: Tom Casino/Showtime

In the Co-feature, in a clash of unbeaten junior middleweights, Daquan Arnett (10-0, 6 KOs), of Orlando, Florida won an eight-round decision over hard-trying Brandon Quarles (10-1-1, 2 KO’s) of Alexandria , Virginia.

At the conclusion of his bout with Brandon Quarles, Daquan Arnett (L) salutes his loyal fans after learning of his victory. Photo: Tom Casino/Showtime

In his ShoBox debut, the 23 year-old Rios won the biggest fight of his career by the scores of 100-90, 97-93 and 96-94. Arnett, 20, a Junior Olympic national champion, got the nod over Quarles by the scores of 78-73, 77-74 and 76-75.  There were no knockdowns in either bout.

ShoBox analyst Steve Farhood provided his thoughts after the match: “In the second half of the main event there was almost a role reversal. Rios, who had been the aggressor, began fighting tentatively. On my card that shift resulted in a close fight. I agree that Rios won, but he certainly could have been more impressive.”

Ronny Rios has his arm raised in victory after defeating Rico Ramos, Friday, January 11, 2013 at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino. Photo: Tom Casino/Showtime

Rios, who was happy with the win felt he could have done better. “I give myself only a C grade,” he said. “I knew I won it, but I didn’t win it the way I wanted to. I really wanted to make a statement on Showtime, but I hesitated too much in the last few rounds.

I wanted to keep pushing forward and working the body, but he kept smothering me. The good news is I passed my first big test, took the next step in my career and hopefully will be getting a world ranking because of it. It’s a great honor to win the NABF belt, but I really wanted to look better. It’s difficult to look good against a guy with his style.”

Ramos was moving up a notch in weight and making his first start in seven months, but he did not make excuses.  “Sure, I’m disappointed,” he said. “I know I could and should have done more, but give Rios credit. He got me with some really nice jabs.”

Daquan Arnett (R) is shown landing a short right cross on the side of Brandon Quarles head.

As for the Co-feature, Arnett is clearly a gifted young fighter, but his issue seems to be his focus and having a good game plan and sticking to it. By Arnett’s own admission, his victory was anything but an artistic success.

“It wasn’t pretty, plain and simple,” said Arnett. “He wanted to make it as ugly as he could because he knew I had a better boxing style. He managed to take me out of my game plan, but I proved that I could adapt. I switched to southpaw at the start of the fourth round just to give him a different look and I think that threw him off. There’s no question I won it clearly in the end.”

Quarles, who had a point deducted in the seventh for leading with his head, felt the wrong guy got his hand raised. “I felt I was out-and-out robbed,” he said. “I outworked him, threw more punches, and hurt him way more than he hurt me. I took him out of his game plan. He was holding my hand down the whole fight. So what happens? They take a point away from me. I’m so sure I won, I can’t even be upset.”

In the non-televised portion of this fight card, the undefeated NABO Bantamweight Champ Randy “El Matador” Caballero (18-0, 10 KO’s), of Coachella, CA, registered a fourth-round knockout over Luis Maldonado (38-10-1, 29 KO’s) of Mexicali, Mexico.  Caballero, a fan favorite, was making his eleventh appearance at Fantasy Springs.

The doubleheader will re-air for the first time on Thursday, Jan. 17, 10 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime Extreme.