By Manouk Akopyan

Two-time Olympic gold medalist had a torturous journey defecting from Cuba to achieve his dreams of becoming a professional boxer. With his life finally in order, the 25-year-old amateur prodigy made his pro debut Saturday, looking to pave a path to soon catapult himself into a star.

He stepped into the ring against Adan Gonzales, a little-known fighter who had a circuitous journey himself throughout life overcoming homelessness from the age of 11 to 18 in dangerous Denver neighborhoods while trying to figure out where he stood in the sport of boxing once he turned pro in 2015.

The 22-year-old Gonzales lost his first pro fight and came into Saturday sporting a record of 4-2-2. By boxing standards, the predictable script was for Ramirez to beat Gonzales, look spectacular doing so and get the satisfaction of a pro debut win Gonzales never had.

And then the bell rang for the featherweight faceoff, and 20 seconds into the fight, Ramirez promptly got punched in the face. A game Gonzales stunned the Cuban with a check left hook for a knockdown, and he never looked back as he scored one of the biggest upsets the sport has seen so far this year in a shocking split decision victory.

Gonzales mostly controlled the four-round affair and was appropriately rewarded with scores of 40-35 and 39-36, while one judge scored the bout 38-37 for Ramirez, who never showed a remarkable rendition that was expected from him.

Reveling in victory with his hand wraps still affixed to his fist at the hotel hours after the stunning win at that Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Gonzales spoke with Boxing Scene about his career-defining moment.

“I woke up every morning during training camp telling myself, my wife, my two sons … everyone: ‘I’m going to shock the world.’ And now, I followed my dream. Finally,” said Gonzales. “I thought I was going to get robbed on the cards and that they were going to baby the little Olympian. But you know what? I’m the new golden star now.”

Gonzales said he heeded the advice of trainer and former fighter Donald Camarena of Denver’s TLC Boxing to follow up his punches to Ramirez with a check-left hook. That punch produced the knockdown that proved to be the deciding factor in the match.

“I promise you that he felt it. I knew I had to outbox him. Gold medals mean nothing in professional boxing,” said Gonzales. “From now on, I want to be known as Adan ‘The Don’ Gonzales because I’m coming as the new boss of the boxing game. I’m going to build my record up and keep getting better and better. Now that I have this Olympian on my record, it’s nothing but the best for me. I needed that victory under my belt to show everyone who I really am.

“The work is not going to stop now. It’s just going to get harder and harder. There’s way more to come than this. I’m not stopping. I’m someone special. You will not hear the end of me, I promise you that.”

Gonzales said his record is a reflection of the long, hard journey he’s overcome to achieve his momentous occasion. His two other showings under the bright lights were also on Top Rank undercards at the Madison Square Garden Theater, twice against the undefeated Jose Gonzalez. He secured a draw in one match in 2017, and a decision loss in another in 2018.

“My life was not easy, man. I built this from the ground up. My foundation is strong,” said Gonzales. “My father made sure that I never quit boxing and Donald Camarena built me up and changed me. He made me into the fighter that I am today. He turned me into a man and into who I was supposed to be, and I’m so thankful to him.”

Ramirez was a gold medalist in the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics in seperate weight classes, but never displayed his prodigious pedigree. ESPN commentators Timothy Bradley, Joe Tessitore and Mark Kreigal all called the fight and collectively agreed there was more to be desired of Ramirez’s milquetoast effort.

Ramirez beat Shakur Stevenson in the medal match of the Rio Games and was looking to carve a collision course for a rematch in the near future, and to one day, become a world champion. Those plans were severely derailed, as Top Rank will now closely monitor the development of its promising pugilist and stall any plans of a Vasyl Lomachenko-like ascent.

Ramirez now joins a list of other notable fighters who lost in their pro debuts, including Henry Armstrong, Bernard Hopkins, Juan Manuel Marquez and Tevin Farmer.

“I feel like I won the fight. My punches were more precise and meaningful,” Ramirez said through an interpreter in his post-fight interview. “I think it was a bad showing for my first pro fight. Obviously it’s going to stymie my career, but I have to go to the drawing board and work harder for a better showing next time.”

Manouk Akopyan has been a member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011 and has written for the Los Angeles Times, USA Today and the Guardian. He can reached on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan.