Jose Ramirez-Josh Taylor – LIVE Outcomes From Virgin Motels Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS – Jose Enrique Vivas looked like he would be knocked out by Louie Coria in the third round on Saturday.

Somehow Vivas overcame two losses in that third round and one point deduction for a low blow in the fourth round to beat Coria on all three scorecards in her entertaining eight-round junior lightweight fight. Each judge – Glenn Feldman, Chris Migliore and Patricia Morse Jarman – scored their all-action bout for Vivas in Mexico by the same narrow margin (75-74) on Jose Ramirez-Josh Taylor’s map at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.

Vivas from Texcoco, Mexico improved to 21-1. Coria (12-5, 7 KOs) from Moreno Valley, California dropped a third straight decision.

Coria lost his two previous fights against Adam Lopez, who won a majority decision eleven months ago, and Robson Conceicao, who unanimously defeated him in another highly competitive encounter on October 31st.

The 22-year-old Coria faded in Saturday’s later rounds, but he had apparently built enough head start to nod his head on the scorecards.

A tired Coria tried to keep her distance in the eighth lap when Vivas chased him and landed the harder punches. Vivas snapped Coria’s head back violently when he landed a right hand and there was just over a minute left in the seventh round.

Hoyle deducted a point from Vivas for low punches with 29 seconds left of the fourth round. Hoyle had warned Vivas earlier in the fourth round of a low blow.

Coria recorded two defeats in the third round.

His crushing left counter-hook first sent Vivas to the canvas at 1:32 to go into the third round. Vivas got up and went back with Coria.

Hoyle scored a second knockdown for Coria, although it appeared Coria had pushed him through the ropes in the third round with just under a minute to go.

The action intensified in the second round. Vivas blasted Coria with two left hooks in the first 15 seconds of this round before acting consistently inside.

A left hook from Coria drew a response from the crowd with just under a minute before the end of that second round.

The previous Saturday, Andres Cortes remained undefeated when he knocked Eduardo Garza out of the box in an eight-round lightweight fight.

The smarter Cortes was more effective offensively and defensively during a fight he won unanimously. The Cortes of Las Vegas (14-0, 7 KOs) didn’t do anything spectacular, but he fought smart and didn’t allow the rugged Garza to drag him into a difficult, physical fight.

The judges Eric Cheek (77-75), Max De Luca (78-74) and Lisa Giampa (79-73) scored the action for Cortes with different advantages.

Garza (15-4-1, 8 KOs) from Mission, Texas lost a second fight in a row. On his previous appearance, Eduardo Hernandez (30-1, 27 KOs) knocked him out in the third round on November 19 at the Wild Card Boxing Club in West Hollywood, California.

Cortes caught Garza with a left hook, unbalancing him, and they had about a minute or so in their fight. Cortes’ combination, interrupted by another left hook, hit Garza in the eighth lap with 25 seconds remaining.

Garza landed a left hook barely a minute into the seventh round, despite Cortes picking it up well. Cortes continued to catch Garza with his right hands in the sixth round, leaving Garza to miss with the most hits.

Garza attempted to beat Cortes up on the fifth round, but Cortes broke away when Garza tied him up and continued to land him.

Cortes controlled action for most of the first four rounds as he consistently landed his overhand right as Garza came forward.

Robeisy Ramirez did not dominate Ryan Lee Allen in the last fight on Saturday, but he did more than enough to extend his winning streak on Saturday.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist was more economical with his punches and yet more accurate than Allen during his six-round featherweight fight. Ramirez dropped Allen in the second round to win a unanimous decision by a large margin on the score cards of Judges Tim Cheatham (60-53), Dave Moretti (59-54) and Steve Weisfeld (60-53).

Cuba-born Ramirez (7-1, 4 KOs) has won seven straight bouts since Adan Gonzales pissed him off with a split decision on Ramirez’s pro debut in Philadelphia in August 2019. A six-round win by unanimous decision against Gonzales of Denver (5-4-2, 2 KOs) in their rematch is one of those seven wins.

Las Vegas’ Allen (10-6-1, 5 KOs) was aggressive at times and often went to Ramirez’s body, but he couldn’t injure his left-handed opponent. Ramirez was fighting well with his hind foot as Allen squeezed the action, regularly landing his left hands.

Ramirez landed a straight left hand, which Allen threw onto the seat of his suitcase around 1:20 in the second round. Allen didn’t seem too badly injured when he got up and he fought hard for the remainder of the second round.

Before Ramirez defeated Allen, Raymond Muratalla was too fast, too strong and too active for Jose Gallegos during their fight.

The undefeated lightweight Gallegos discharged a series of power punches in the fourth and fifth rounds of his planned eight-round player. Referee Mike Ortega had seen enough step between them just after halfway through round five to halt action at 1:40 of that round.

Gallegos (20-11, 15 KOs) from Bakersfield, Calif. Stayed on his feet throughout the bout, but he obviously had little chance of coming back to win when Ortega stopped their bout. The 26-year-old Gallegos lost away for the third time in his six-year professional career.

Muratalla (12-0, 10 KOs) from Fontana, California has won seven fights in a row by knockout. He was ahead with the same number of points (40-36) on all three scorecards in the fifth round.

In the first fight on Saturday, Javier Martinez scored the spectacular knockout he was looking for on Saturday after more than three rounds.

The Milwaukee middleweight prospectus caught Calvin Metcalf with a right hook, sneaking around Metcalf’s guard just before the middle of the fourth round. That devastating shot sent Metcalf flat on his back.

Referee Robert Hoyle quickly stopped the action when Metcalf convulsed on the screen. However, Metcalf, 26, recovered quickly and left the ring unaided.

An excellent amateur, 25-year-old Martinez improved to 4-0 and recorded his second knockout.

Kansas City’s Metcalf (10-6-1, 3 KOs) lost to a knockout for the first time in almost five years. He is 1-5 in his last six fights.

Keith Idec is a senior writer / columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.