Clark-Ramirez NABF lightweight title fight in Las Vegas

Oct. 17 on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights

19.09 - Providence, Rhode Island – Promoter Jimmy Burchfield has announced that Classic Entertainment & Sports, Inc. (CES) stablemates, NABF lightweight champion Michael Clark and challenger Antonio “Cana Seca” Ramirez, will fight in the October 17th 12-round main event, live on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights, at The Orleans Casino in Las Vegas. Guilty Boxing is presenting the show in association with CES.

Clark (31-2, 15 KOs), of Columbus (OH), will make his first defense of the NABF title that he captured May 4 with a decision against Steve Quinonez. The 30-year-old Clark is rated No. 10 by the World Boxing Association and No. 11 by the International Boxing Federation. His only career losses have been to WBO champion Artur Grigorjan and WBA super lightweight title-holder Vivian Harris. Clark holds a win against IBF No. 2 rated contender Levander Johnson.

Ramirez (20-6-6, 15 KOs), now fighting out of Connecticut, is the former WBO NABO, WBC Fecarbox and Dominican Republic super featherweight champion. He lost a closely disputed 12-round decision to Quinonez this past March for the NABF lightweight championship in a bout he took on less than one week’s notice.

“The lightweight division has changed with IBF champion Paul Spadafora moving up to super lightweight,” Burchfield, president of CES, said. “There have been reports that the two other lightweight champions, (WBC Floyd) Mayweather and (WBA Leonard) Dorin, may also be moving up to super lightweight. Ramirez is a tough opponent who has been in against world-class fighters like (Angel) Manfredy, (Alexandro) Gonzalez and Quinonez. Clark will be seriously tested and a win should position him among the top five lightweights in the world.”

On the undercard, CES’ unbeaten light heavyweight Joe “KO Kid” Spina, of Providence (RI), will be putting his perfect 8-0 (6 KOs) record on the line against TBA.