WBO featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza is talking about possibly moving up to 130 ahead of his rematch against former champ Robeisy Ramirez next month on December 7th at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
The lanky 6’1″ Espinoza (25-0, 21 KOs) has looked big in between fights, and it’s obviously taking a lot out of him to drop weight to get down to the skeletal 126 lbs to defend his WBO belt.
Regardless of the outcome of his rematch with Robeisy (14-2, 9 KOs), it makes sense for the 30-year-old Espinoza to move up to super featherweight because he can get a nice payday fighting the winner of the rematch between WBO 130-lb champion Emanuel Navarrete and Oscar Valdez.
Those two are fighting in the main event on the December 7th card at the Footprint Center. So, that makes it an easy fight to make for Top Rank to match Espinoza against the winner.
Newly crowned WBC super featherweight champion O’Shaquie Foster said he wants to fight the Navarrete-Valdez II winner, but his 12-round split decision victory over Robson Conceicao in their rematch on November 2nd was so boring to watch it would be a bad idea for Top Rank to let him be next. It would be more interesting for fans to have Espinoza fight the winner.
Top Rank should have Foster fight a rematch with #2 WBC Eduardo Hernandez because e their clash last year on October 28th was drama-filled, with O’Shaquie needing to come from behind to score a 12th-round knockout.
“He gets hit flush. He doesn’t have a great defense, and that’s going to be a problem for him when he gets in with Robeisy. He knows he can hurt him. He put him on the canvas before [last year on December 9th, 2023], and I think he’s going to put him on the canvas again,” said Tim Bradley to Probox TV about WBO featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza being vulnerable on defense going into his rematch with the two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez on December 7th.
“He gets hit on chin by Robeisy Ramirez. If he’s struggling making weight at 126 lbs, he will get hurt. Trust me, Robeisy Ramirez wants his belt back. I think it’s a pick ’em fight, it’s whoever lands first, but I would bet that Robeisy will land that kill shot, and he will end Espinoza,” said Bradley.
Espinoza looked good in his last fight against Sergio Chirino Sanchez, but he wasn’t fighting a talent like Robeisy. Things could be very different for him when he faces the Cuban Robeisy on December 7th, and this might be the end of his short title reign.
“This is not an easy fight vs. Robeisy Ramirez. He’s very talented. Their first fight was an absolute war,” said Chris Algieri. “Espinoza had to pull that one out of the fire. He got dropped early [in round five], and had to score a knockdown at the end [in round twelve] to win the fight. ”
It looked like Espinoza was done when he was knocked down in the fifth round by Robeisy, but he was fortunate the that happened in the closing seconds of that round. Had the knockdown occurred earlier in the round, Espinoza would have been knocked out because he was out on his feet after getting back up. All it would have taken is another big left hand from Robeisy to finish him.
“Going into the rematch and letting everyone know that basically win, lose or draw, ‘I’m moving up, means I have to move up.’ I’m surprised he’s been able to stay at this weight for so long.”
Espinoza looked like a starved skeleton in his fight against Robeisy last year and had a similar appearance in his recent defense against Sergio Chirino Sanchez on June 21st. It’s got to be hard for Espiniza not to be able to enjoy the money he’s making by eating well in between fights, and he’s not getting any younger.
At 30, he can’t continue to drain down to 126 like this without it catching up to him, possibly in his rematch against Robeisy on December 7th.
“I don’t think he has any choice. I don’t know what took him so long. This guy is huge at featherweight,” said Paulie Malignaggi about the 6’1″ Espinoza.
Espinoza could probably stay at featherweight a little longer if there was a money fight for him, but there isn’t. There’s no one there that is well-known enough for Espinoza to get the kind of dough that he would by moving up to 130 to take on the Navarrete-Valdez 2 winner or snatching the WBC belt from the light-hitting Foster and then fighting a unification match against Oscar or Emanuel.