In the first huge shocker of 2009, highly touted cruiserweight hope Alexander Alekseev was stopped by unknown Argentinian Victor Emilio Ramirez after nine hard-fought rounds for the WBO interim cruiserweight title in front of 4000 excited fans on Saturday at the Burg-Wächter-Castello in Dusseldorf, Germany. Alekseev started well, keeping the distance and outboxing Ramirez in the first couple rounds. The Argentinian, however, managed to get some hard shots in at times while marching forward with bulldog-like aggression. The tide turned in the sixth when Alekseev got caught by some big body shots and was wobbled. The Russian came back in the seventh with a body shot himself that stunned Ramirez. Afterwards, it was the Argentinian who bullrushed Alekseev around the ring and connected with hard shots in the eight before wobbling the Spotlight fighter around the ring in the ninth, scoring with huge shots that had Alekseev out of his feet. The Russian was not able to get the momentum back and was almost down at the end of the round, eating punches in bunches. After the ninth, the corner of the Russian decided it was enough and threw in the towel, making it a tenth round TKO victory for the underog Victor Emilio “El Tyson del Abasto” Ramirez. Suffering his first career loss, Alekseev falls to 16-1. Scoring the big upset, Ramirez moves to 14-1 with 12 KOs, capturing the WBO interim belt.