By Chris Morris

Fresno, California -

Before a massive crowd of 13,120, as revealed by ring announcer, Lupe Contreras, rising prospect Jose Ramirez survived a second round knockdown scare, courtesy of a choppy right hand from Johnny Garcia, to win a wide eight round decision in the headliner of the most successful "Fight for Water" event.

After a dominating first round where Ramirez was taking target practice, he got clipped by a short right hand in second which sent him down on the seat of his pants. Ramirez was on a mission in the third and he was letting the leather fly. His offense seems to be his defense. 

"In the second round I caught Jose with a straight right to the chin. He went down. It was a great shot," Garcia stated after the fight.

Ramirez poured it on the rest of the fight, hitting Garcia with everything but the kitchen sink. Garcia was tough and he never stopped trying to win, to his credit. Garcia had a better round in the fifth, but Ramirez stormed back in the sixth. By the seventh Ramirez was steadily busting Garcia up.

After eight rounds, two judges ringside saw the bout 79-73 (with the knockdown for Garcia) and a reasonable 77-74 for Ramirez.

Ramirez stated: "Fighting before a big crowd was awesome. In the ring I battled against a tough opponent. It was hard fight, a real battle. Garcia took a lot of hard punches. I am going back to gym and focus harder."

Justin Fortune, who worked in his corner added - "Title fights are always hard, never easy. Obviously Jose wanted to knock out Garcia. Jose did wobble him good about six times. It was hard work and a great victory"

The former Olympian remains undefeated running his record to 16-0, 12KO's, while Garcia drops to 19-4-1, 11KO's.

'El Tiburon' Andy Vences punishes Manuel 'Punisher' Rojas for first round TKO.  After a feeling out type of first round Vences opened up his arsenal in the second. Referee Gerard White looked like he was going to step in to break the fighters, but instead he stepped back to let them fight out.  Rojas relaxed his guard and Vences clubbed him with a sharp left hook sending him down hard.  Rojas beats the count and Vences switched to southpaw. He trapped Rojas on the ropes and landed a hard left hand that ended the fight. Time is 1:40 of the second round.  With the win Vences moves his ledger to 14-0, 10KO's and Rojas drops his third fight and falls to 12-3, 4 KO's.

The "Smoke Show" Joe Louie Lopez beat up and stopped Dave Courchaine in the second round of their four round middle weight bout.  Lopez caught him with a combination that put him down.  He beats the count but the follow up barrage puts him down and out. Time was 2:32 of the second. Lopez improves to 7-0, 4KO's while Courchaine slips to 2-7, 2KO's.

Saul Lomas made short work of Eduardo Dominguez dropping and then stopping him on the. Lomas sent Dominguez crashing to the canvas with an overhand right.  Dominguez beats the count. As Lomas cones in for the kill he lands a 1-2-1 combo and referee Marcos Rosales steps in to stop the fight at 1:32 of the opening round.  Lomas keeps his undefeated record intact at 6-0, 5KO's while Dominguez drops his first bout as a pro landing at 2-1, 1KO.

Eric Altamirano dropped Ricardo Maldonado in the third, with a beautiful left hook to the body.  Maldonado makes it out of the round only to have the fight stopped in the fourth, during an exchange of punches. Two fights that referee Gerard White has ruined for Fresno fight fans tonight.  Altamirano remains undefeated at 6-0, 5 KO's and Maldonado moves to 5-4, 0KO.

Guy Robb pounded out an eight round decision over game but limited Juan Ruiz. Ruiz never gave in, but he was simply over matched. Robb improves to 17-1, 6KO's and Ruiz falls to 24-20, 7KO's.

Local super lightweight Alex Rojas was gifted a TKO win over Emilio Hernandez, from Nebraska, as the referee stopped the bout in the second round. Rojas was dominating but Hernandez was fighting back and defending himself, even as the referee stepped in to stop it.  Rojas improves to 2-0-1, 2 KO's while Hernandez slips to 2-3, 2 KO's.