Rising light heavyweight force Albert Ramirez dropped former world title challenger Lenin Castillo in the fourth round en route to a 10-round unanimous decision at the Chapiteau de l’Espace Fontvieille, Fontvieille, Monaco, on Saturday.

Ramirez, who was a subject of a New Faces in the June/July digital issue of The Ring, was more workmanlike than spectacular.

“We were planning to go for 10-rounds,” Ramirez (17-0, 15 knockouts) told The Ring through trainer Jacobo Chrismatt. “I wasn’t expecting [him to go down] but when I caught him with the hook it was a solid punch [in Round 4] that we worked on in the gym. That impressed me because Lenin Castillo is a very tough fighter. I’m really happy with my performance.”

The 31-year-old felt he was too aggressive in his previous fight against Mexican trialhorse Ricardo Adrian Luna and appears to have learned his lesson.

He was able to box a more controlled fight though looked fatigued at the end.

“I had some trouble with the weight in this training camp, I gained more muscle so I had more trouble with the weigh cut,” he admitted.

“I just followed my corners instructions, it was good [experience] to get the rounds because I was tired. It was smart to adjust the game plan.”

His conditioning and mindset were doubtlessly hindered when two weeks before the fight Ramirez went to meet his wife from her place of work and the couple were met by two gunmen in their home city of Valledupar, Colombia.

The fighter downplayed what happened but Chrismatt wanted to explain what happened.

“Albert and his wife were held at gunpoint, thankfully both are OK but assailants did shoot at the floor and took a chain from Albert,” said the trainer. “It did shake them up and an incident like that takes time to overcome.”

The power-punching Venezuelan southpaw also came through the fight unscathed and may be back in action later this year.

“If those are the plans and if we have to fight at the end of the year we will do it,” he said about the possibility of appearing on one of his promoter Eye of The Tiger’s fall cards.

“Everything is good, whenever my team say, I’ll be ready go.”

Ramirez looks a solid addition to the light heavyweight class. His power was on display in this fight against the experienced Castillo and while he wasn’t able to get the eye-catching stoppage this is a good base to build from.

The light heavyweight division doesn’t have much depth after WBA titleholder Dmitry Bivol, IBF, WBC and WBO ruler Artur Beterbiev and the Russian’s next opponent Callum Smith, so if Ramirez can get a win or two more he could very well gatecrash the top 10 and be in the shake up to face one of the top fighters next year.

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Albert Ramirez drops Lenin Castillo to win unanimous decision in Monaco – The Ring (ringtv.com)