- 20-year-old boxer
Jesus Ramos returns to the ring Saturday against Javier Molina on FoxSports . - Ramos is one of
boxing 's young guns and wants to claim a world title when he's 21. - "When people talk boxing, I want my name to comes up just like it does with Mayweather and Pacquiao."
New-gen Mexican boxer Jesus Ramos wants to win a world championship when he's 21 years old.
Already 20, "Mono" doesn't have much time to chase his wildest dream, but the power-punching southpaw wants to carry on knocking out his rivals so he can break into the top-10 rankings before the end of the year.
Ramos returns to the ring Saturday for a welterweight match against Javier Molina for a Premier Boxing Champions pay-per-view on Fox Sports, showcasing many Mexican sluggers at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Wearing a "Future World Champ" shirt for a recent Zoom call with Insider, it was clear before Ramos had even said "What's up, man?" where his ambitions in boxing lay.
But first, he wants to take care of Molina, and he says he's not taking his opponent - a former Olympian - lightly.
"Man, I've seen Javier Molina for a long time," Ramos told us, looking back at the role he played in the 2011 motion picture "Born and Bred," featuring other boxing royalty Teddy Atlas and Jim Lampley.
"When I was an amateur, I watched that movie. To fight him now, it's crazy. It's not like he was an idol to me, but I saw him growing up, saw him in that movie, and now he's watching tape of me, getting ready to fight me."
Likewise, Ramos has been watching tape of Molina to get ready to fight him.
Even though he's got an unbeaten pro boxing record of 15 wins and 14 knockouts and is known for his ability to thump opponents senseless, Ramos is looking to integrate a more cerebral approach to his violence.
"I've been training to get more rounds in as I feel there's more to my arsenal than what you guys have seen," he said.
"I feel like I do way more things and have done those things in sparring sessions. I just want to show it.
"Now, I'm just considered a power puncher, but I feel there's more to my game. I'm hoping Javier Molina is the guy to bring that out of me. So we'll see May 1."
Ramos first put gloves on at 4 years old
Boxing has been a part of the Ramos family for generations. His father and uncles boxed and coached, and he grew up with gloves on.
Wanting to mirror the older men in his family, Ramos boxed for a short while from 4 years old, but because he was not legally permitted to compete at such a young age, he lost interest in training without a purpose.
That changed at 8, and his father started matching him up with older kids. At that age, young Jesus was throwing leather with 10- and 11-year-olds - adolescents who were stronger than he was, taller, and with longer arms.
"This always happened," he smiled. "When you're that age, the age gap feels so much more. Sometimes at 10, I'd be sparring 15-year-olds.
"But my dad was always matching me up with fighters who had hundreds of fights. He would just do that, so I'd have that experience and learn. I thank him because I am where I am because of that.
"He's always been good for preparing me. Even when I was 15, sparring pro fighters a lot older and more experienced was good preparation for when I was going to turn pro - when I'd be ready for anything."
Throughout his teens, boxing was always a hot topic at home. They'd train during the day, eat together, and watch boxing at night - booking time in the calendar for Juan Manuel Marquez, Juan Diaz, and Chris Arreola fight nights.
At 17, Ramos turned pro and finished each of his first nine opponents. It all served as a confidence booster. Not only was the training from his family working, but it was also seemingly working with ease.
"My father would always tell me I had power when he held the mitts, but I never really believed him because he's my dad.
"But when I turned pro and saw these guys start falling when I wasn't even forcing these knockouts, I was like, impressed with myself.
"I never wanted to rely on it and not let that take me away from my fundamentals. I train like if I had pillow hands. I like to stick to my basics, do everything right. The power is there to help."
It all clicked for Ramos in 2019 when he iced Rickey Edwards at the Rabobank Theater in Bakersfield - a knockout-of-the-year contender.
With 25 seconds remaining in the third round, Ramos sent a left hook around his opponent's guard and clipped him on the temple with such aplomb, Edwards face-planted the deck.
He is now one of the sport's young guns looking to make a run to the top of his division and claim a world title in 12 months.
Ramos has sparred Terence Crawford and taken lessons from Canelo and Floyd Mayweather
The Arizona fighter is in good stead for continued success in the pro game as he's shared a camp with one of America's top boxers Terence Crawford, and is looking to apply lessons he's learned studying the modern greats like Floyd Mayweather and Saul Alvarez.
"You learn a lot being in the ring with Terence Crawford, but the No.1 thing is work ethic. They train seven days out of the week, and that's what we implemented in this camp and other camps - to work even harder.
"The sparring sessions were intense. You've got to think in there with Terence Crawford. You can't sleep at all, you have to be creative because being basic won't make you hit him.
"It was exhausting," he said. "Not just the physical part of being in the ring with him, but the mental."
And on Canelo and Floyd, Ramos said: "The important lesson learned from them is about the composure.
"It's like they're not even boxing even though there's a guy in there trying to take their heads off. They're just composed, sticking to their gameplan, and breaking their opponent down.
"Nowadays, it's about fighters throwing punches with no meaning, and I don't like that.
"I like my opponent to be broken down a little more so in the second round, third, he might be strong, but by the fifth, sixth, my work is going to have had an effect on him, and he won't be the same fighter he was at the start.
"That's the purpose for boxing. You've got to break their will. And that's the most important lesson I learned from both of those fighters."
These are all things Ramos wants to apply on Saturday on Fox Sports and beyond until he lifts his first world championship.
"Becoming a world champion at 21 is a huge goal for me. My main goal is that when people talk boxing, it's my name that comes up, just like it does with Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao."