Even for a boxer, the goodbye walk is a painful one.

Zipping up the suitcase. Kissing the foreheads of the sleeping children before letting go of that long embrace with your wife. Locking up the front door. Driving down the road.

For former unified 140-pound champion Jose Ramirez, saying goodbye to family for the isolation of training camp has become so much more than it was when he reigned as WBC and WBO super-lightweight champion four years ago.

Then, he and wife, Marisol, had one child. Now, a fourth’s on the way – a baby boy due in January.

As Ramirez has trained in the demanding Riverside, California, gym of veteran cornerman Robert Garcia for Saturday’s “Latino Night” co-main event showdown versus a fellow Californian and the top-ranked WBO contender, Arnold Barboza Jnr, in Saudi Arabia, the Central Californian has reconnected with the solitary demands of the sport that has allowed him to care for his loved ones.

Family ties and then some promotional tanglings last year as he departed longtime promoter Top Rank for Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions have limited Ramirez to one fight per year since his compelling sixth-round TKO of Maurice Hooker to become a unified champion in Texas in 2019.

“I grew up in a very humble family under a very loving father and mother. We had very little, but we had lots of love. I’m built that way, to care for my own,” Ramirez told BoxingScene in a recent interview at Garcia’s gym. “Now that I have a home and family, it’s definitely taken a lot of my mind and my time.

“But just like anybody who’s competitive in nature and recognizes the sacrifices you have to make for their job, it’s all about providing for the family. I’ve been doing this for a long time, so I understand and respect the process. It doesn’t allow me to hate the sport for taking time away from my family.

“Yes, it takes away some of my attention from them, but first and foremost, I recognize all the blessings that the sport of boxing has given my family and I. The blessings will keep coming by displaying my talent and maintaining the mental drive I still have to be on top of the game, to still receive these opportunities. My family is excited for me, very supportive. They understand that taking time away is necessary.”

In his first year with Golden Boy, Ramirez, 32, is determined to regain a 140-pound belt, and he now returns to the ring for the second time in a calendar year following his unanimous-decision victory over Cuba’s Rances Barthelemy in April. 

WBO President Gustavo Olivieri says following Ramirez-Barboza, he’ll either anoint the winner the mandatory opponent of WBO champion Teofimo Lopez or assign him to a title eliminator against unbeaten, second-ranked Jack Catterall since some expect Lopez to depart the division for welterweight action.

From trainer Garcia’s vantage point, Ramirez has perfectly balanced his commitments at home by returning from the widespread lapses of the COVID years at the perfect time.

“This is what we needed from him: activity. And coming off the April fight, activity will be a big plus, it makes a big difference,” Garcia said. “Yes, Arnold’s a great fighter, very talented. But this is a great opportunity for Jose to come out and show what he can really do.”

Garcia has a gym loaded with immense talent, including unbeaten super-flyweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, unbeaten interim WBC junior-middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. and WBA 140-pound champion Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela.

Each of them would be hard pressed to match the effort that Ramirez brings to his training camp.

“He’s one of those guys who loves the challenges, comes around the gym, sees bigger, faster guys like my tough 154-pounder, and says, ‘Give me six rounds with him,’” Garcia said. “He likes that because he wants to test himself every day.

“There’s days I’ll give him off because he does train a little bit too much. When I give him a day off on a Monday, he’ll still go out and run eight miles at a 6 minute, 45-second mile. He spars two or three times a week because that’s all he needs with his 100-plus-percent effort every time.

“For Jose, becoming a champion again is what he’s looking at.”

A 2012 U.S. Olympian, Ramirez 29-1 (18 KOs) emphasizes it’s the dedicated effort he produces in training that has set him apart from every man but one – when Josh Taylor knocked Ramirez down twice in 2021 to emerge with a narrow 114-112 unanimous decision score on all three cards.

“As far as skills, strength, power, conditioning, will, I’m second to none. It’s just that the mental part – over the past four years, my inactivity has affected me,” Ramirez said.

“But I know the last time I fought twice in a year I was sharp, didn’t have time to think or doubt myself.”

Part of that was exacerbated by his split with Top Rank.

Ramirez’s side is this: In 2023, he said he was promised a fight with Teofimo Lopez.

“I was flown by Top Rank to go and watch Teofimo-(Josh) Taylor, was told (Top Rank chairman Bob) Arum brought Teofimo by the office a couple times (to discuss a Ramirez fight) in 2023,” Ramirez said. “It just didn’t happen.”

Wanting a fight with just one bout remaining on his contract, Ramirez said he asked Top Rank for his release, “to keep the money,” he said, and ended up talking to most of the major promoters to gauge his value.

Golden Boy offered a multi-fight deal that assured no purse less than $1.5 million, Ramirez said.

He said Top Rank then offered $1.5 million for a Lopez fight.

Ramirez said he listened and asked, “What’s the plan?” for him beyond that fight. He said a definitive response never arrived.

“That’s how I knew it wasn’t a serious offer,” Ramirez said. “They announced the (Lopez-Jamaine) Ortiz fight two days later. I think they kept a lot of (the Ramirez negotiations) away from Arum because Bob Arum has always been a big advocate and supporter of me.

“That was a low blow on their part. That’s not a good decision on their part, and I got the deal I wanted from Golden Boy.

“Boxing is such a lonely sport. If you don’t have a team that believes in you, it’s hard to become the best version of yourself. Now, I feel someone by their actions – the contract I signed with Golden Boy – has shown they believe in me. I have that excitement.”

Ramirez has been joined by his father and a cousin in training camp, Garcia said, and a larger swath of family has accompanied him to the Riyadh Season card that will be televised by DAZN and includes a cruiserweight unification between Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez versus Chris Billam-Smith and a lightweight bout pitting consensus top-ranked William Zepeda versus former super-featherweight champion Tevin Farmer.

“I hope to show on (Saturday) that I’m still the same Jose Ramirez I was when I was unified champion,” Ramirez said. “Honestly, I feel like I haven’t lost much of anything from my career. I’m still fairly young. I can recall training with (Manny) Pacquiao in his late 30s and he still had that fire. I’m only 32 and I’ve only fought five times in the last four years. Yes, time moves by, but I’m still the same.”

So the focus is to win impressively, to make a statement and set up major bouts for belts and big purses – against Lopez, Catterall, IBF 140-pound champion Liam Paro, Devin Haney or Ryan Garcia at welterweight.

“Fighters understand … we don’t duck each other. But if the money’s not right, you have to take another route,” Ramirez said. “I’ve got a family to feed, a future to think about – not just boxing.”