Arum sees Gilberto Ramirez as opposite of Chavez Jr

By Boxing News - 02/14/2016 - Comments

ramirez8By Dan Ambrose: Undefeated #1 WBO Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (33-0, 24 KOs) will be challenging WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (44-4, 29 KOs) for his WBO title on April 9 on HBO pay-per-view from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ramirez’s promoter Bob Arum thinks that the southpaw is going to beat the 35-year-old Abraham to capture his WBO title and become a superstar in the sport. The Abraham vs. Ramirez fight is the co-feature bout on the Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley 3 card.

Arum sees the 24-year-old Ramirez as the opposite of former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who Arum previously promoted. Arum thinks that Ramirez is a hard worker and is dedicated to his craft.

It might not matter whether Ramirez is a harder worker than Chavez Jr. He’s still an underdog for the Abraham fight, and he’s expected to lose. The line that Bavada has on the fight is Ramirez -240 and Abraham at +190.

“We worked a lot with Chavez Jr., and I consider him a friend,” Arum said to ESPN Deportes. “Your father [Julio Cesar Chavez] is a great friend and the Mexican is the largest of all time. I disagree with the decision made by Chavez to somewhere else take your career, but ‘Lefty’ [Ramirez] is the antithesis Chavez Jr., and is dedicated, disciplined, with no bad habits and will be a big star in boxing for years to come, said Arum.

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If the 6’2” Ramirez is going to be a super star, then he’s going to need to improve a great deal from what he showed in his last three fights against Gevorg Khatchikian, Derek Edwards and Maxim Vlasov. The fighter that I saw in those three fights was a decent fringe contender type of talent, but not a super star.

I don’t even think that Ramirez is as good as Chavez Jr. was during his best years at middleweight. Chavez Jr. looked like a more solid fighter than Ramirez when he was fighting at a high level from 2010 to 2012. Chavez Jr. has slowed considerably since 2012 with him gaining weight and appearing to lose hand speed. Chavez Jr’s conditioning has not looked good in his recent fights against Marcos Reyes, Andrzej Fonfara and Brian Vera. However, I think a prime Chavez Jr. beats Ramirez easily. Chavez Jr. looked like a much better fighter during his best years than what I’ve seen from the tall, stork-like Ramirez, who fights small despite his height, and who takes a lot of punishment on the inside. Ramirez doesn’t seem to have the same chin that Chavez Jr. has.

“Yes, it’s a tough fight with Abraham because Abraham has all the tricks known, but one of the reasons why I looked for the fight and why I think that ‘Lefty’ [Ramirez] will win is because he pulls no punches, and I had never seen anyone at that weight to throw as many punches as he, and that’s going to end up hurting, “said Arum.

Ramirez doesn’t throw anymore punches than guys that Abraham has fought in the past like Robert Stieglitz. I think Arum is exaggerating by saying that Ramirez throws a lot of punches. He doesn’t. However, if he tries to throw a lot of shots at Abraham on April, I think it could end with disastrous consequences for Ramirez. Abraham will counter him with big power shots and likely hurt him. Vlasov, who isn’t a big puncher, had Ramirez hurt in their fight in 2015. If Vlasov was able to hurt Ramirez, then surely Abraham will be able to do the same thing as well.



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