John 'Scrappy' Ramirez: 'This Fight Should Set Me Up For A World Title Fight'

Make FightsATW Your Preferred Combat Sports Source

Enjoy our boxing and wrestling coverage? Add Fights Around The World as a Preferred Source on Google so our latest stories can show up more often in your Top Stories.

Add FightsATW on Google

Junior bantamweight John “Scrappy” Ramirez‘s competitive drive is both a gift and a curse.

Ramirez returns Friday at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, in a fight he hopes vaults him one step closer to a title.

Ramirez, 16-1 (9 KOs), started boxing as an adult after playing football at the collegiate level. Ramirez of Los Angeles was, by his own accord, the one who held his teammates accountable during his football days. Now, he serves as his own enforcer in the boxing gym, not for others, but himself, as he finds himself as his harshest critic at times.

“I have been extremely hard on myself,” Ramirez told FightsATW. “I think that is why it is hard for me to find joy in this because I started late, as an adult, I have been looking for answers. When you are a kid, you just do things for fun.”

The 29-year-old Ramirez is a lifelong athlete. He admits sports came easily to him and that he excelled past his peers. He found success in football before switching over to boxing. Now, as a boxer, he is learning that experience comes with time.

“I don’t need to rush the process of perfection or mastery,” Ramirez said. “Embrace my current point of where I am at,”

In 2024, Ramirez lost to David Jimenez. The bout was for the WBA interim junior bantamweight title. Ramirez has won three fights since. In January, he won a majority decision over Byron Rojas. Ramirez’s mind, a win here would put him in a position for another title opportunity.

“This fight should set me up for a world title fight,” Ramirez said. “It doesn’t matter how you win, you’ve got to win…as long as I win, I keep moving forward.”

Ramirez is now using the past as fuel to drive him to the title.

“Sometimes you have to look back at the process of your life, and find answers through it,” Ramirez said. “Everything I put my mind to, I have accomplished.”