By Dan Ambrose: WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez wants to give the fans a great show in his first title defense against challenger Dominic Britsch on July 23. This is an important fight for Ramirez, because he needs a victory to get to potential bigger fights this year and in 2017 against possibly Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.
Ramirez, 25, doesn’t just want to win the fight. He wants to win and put on a great performance in giving the boxing world a war that will make them happy. For Ramirez to accomplish his goal of turning the fight into a brawl, he’ll need to fight the opposite of the way he fought his last fight against former WBO 168lb champion Arthur Abraham last April.
Ramirez moved around the ring for 12 rounds and focused on boxing Abraham rather than going to war with him. It’s easy for Ramirez (34-0, 24 KOs) to say that he’ll stand and trade with Britsch (32-2-1, 11 KOs) because he’s not a big puncher and he only has a 31% knockout percentage.
If Ramirez wanted to pl3ase the fans, then he should have elected to go to war in his fight against Abraham, because that guy can punch.
“I think it will be a war. As always, I hope he comes ready for war,” Ramirez said to ESPN Deportes. “I know he will come very motivated for the world title fight, but I’m very focused, and motivated also because it’s my first defense and I want to keep this championship for a long time,” said Ramirez.
Ramirez may turn the fight into a war, but it’s not saying anything because Britsch doesn’t have the kind of power that other super middleweights in the division do. If Ramirez can slug with the top guys like Callum Smith, James DeGale, and Badou Jack, it would be very impressive.
If Ramirez could slug with Golovkin, it would show the fans that he’s a brave fighter. The problem is, Ramirez likely will choose to move for 12 rounds against anyone he faces at this point in his career. Whether they can punch or not, I think Ramirez is going to move round after round and make it boring.
Ramirez vs. Britsch will be fighting on the undercard of the Terence Crawford vs. Viktor Postol fight on HBO PPV from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“I will be prepared for the best version of Britsch. If he wants to fight to the medium or long distance, I’ll be ready. I’m ready for anything,” said Ramirez.
Ramirez needs to change his fighting style to become more like Gennady Golovkin than he’s fighting now. Ramirez used to be an inside slugger, but he’s changed his fighting style dramatically by becoming a boxer/mover, who specializes on throwing a lot of shots. Ramirez doesn’t load up on his shots like he used to because his focus seems more on throwing a massive amount of shots. I don’t think Ramirez will change that style no matter who he’s facing.