This Weekend in the Ring (April 9th 2016) – Pac/Bradley; Ramirez/Abraham; Martin/Joshua; More

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By Todd Creel – Boxing fans, we have ahead of us an entertaining weekend inside the ring. There are some interesting match-ups scheduled, including a few title bouts, a fight between two pound-for-pound ranked pugilists, and some entertaining regional scraps (in the Washington D.C. Area at least). Let’s take a few minutes to have an unbiased look at some of these.

At the top of the list, we have a match that has been discussed ad nauseam. I am of course referring to the third fight in the trilogy between Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao and Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley. Regardless of anyone’s opinion on the first two fights, we enter this bout with a record split with one win a piece. The winner of this one will, on paper, walk away with the bragging rights. This is an intriguing bout, bringing with it a few questions needing to be answered. Bradley is now training with the veteran Teddy Atlas. This will be a defining bout for the pair, as a clear win will prove that the addition of Atlas has brought Bradley’s game up a notch. Will having Atlas in his corner give Bradley the edge in this third installment? On Pacquiao’s end, we have the tried and true trainer Freddie Roach. Roach has prepared Manny for numerous fights, and judging by pictures and videos, Pacquiao appears to be in excellent condition. However Pac-Man has been in a great many entertaining fights and wars that may have taken their toll. In any case, this fight has the potential to be a memorable one as neither fighter is known for backing down.

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Mike Tyson wants Abraham to KO Gilberto Ramirez

abraham9999(Photo Credit: Jim Laurie) By Dan Ambrose: Former heavyweight champion of the world Mike Tyson has advice or WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (44-4, 29 KOs) in his title defense this Saturday night against unbeaten #1 WBO Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (33-0, 24 KOs) and that’s to knock the 24-year-old fighter out when the two of them face each other on HBO Championship Boxing at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Abraham-Ramirez will be fighting on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley card.

Abraham, who is based in Germany, will be coming over to fight on this Top Rank promoted fight card against one of their youngest prospects in Ramirez. Getting a win over the home A-side fighter could be difficult for Abraham unless he takes the judges out of the equation completely by knocking Ramirez out. You’ve got to figure that the crowd will be firmly on Ramirez’s side despite the fact that he’s not American.

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Gilberto Ramirez vs. Arthur Abraham this Saturday

abraham6By Jeff Aranow: This Saturday night the boxing world will get a chance to find out if #1 WBO Gilberto Ramirez (33-0, 24 KOs) is for real or not when he steps foot inside the ring against a world champion for the first time in his fight against WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (44-4, 29 KOs) on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley on HBO pay-per-view at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ramirez’s promoter Bob Arum believes that the 24-year-old Ramirez is ready to dethrone Abraham and take his WBO title and become a world champion for the first time. Arum is counting on the 6’2” Mexican Ramirez becoming one of his new stars in his stable of Top Rank fighters because his main star Pacquiao is heading out of the sport in the near future, possibly after his fight against Bradley on Saturday night.

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Abraham taking Gilberto Ramirez very seriously

abraham553By Dan Ambrose: WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham isn’t overlooking his #1 WBO challenger Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez for their fight on April 9 despite the fact that Ramirez, 24, is totally unproven in terms of experience, and hasn’t looked all that great against the marginal opposition his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank has matched up against thus far.

Arum has been extra careful in matching the 6’2” Ramirez until now, and there is really no way of knowing how well Ramirez will do in this fight. All we have to do y really is Ramirez’s fight against Maxim Vlasov last year, and Ramirez was hurt several times and almost lost.

“I am already feeling great. Normally I just start preparation eight weeks before a fight, but this time my whole preparation lasts about 12 weeks,” Abraham said. “I am taking Gilberto Ramirez very serious,” said Abraham to ESPN.com.

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Chavez picks Gilberto Ramirez to defeat Arthur Abraham

ramirez78By Dan Ambrose: Mexican boxing great Julio Cesar Chavez is picking unbeaten #1 WBO Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (31-0, 24 KOs) to defeat WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (44-4, 29 KOs) in their fight on April 9 on HBO pay-per-view from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Abraham-Ramirez fight is the co-feature bout on the Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley 3 card. Abraham, 36, is the favorite in the fight despite giving away five inches in height and three inches in height to the 24-year-old Ramirez.

Abraham is the better puncher, and he’s by far the more experienced of the two. Ramirez is coming into the April 9 fight without any experience against top tier opposition apart from his close win over fringe contender Max Vlasov last year in 2015.

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Gilberto Ramirez with big test against Arthur Abraham

ramirezBy Dan Ambrose: The Top Rank promoted #1 WBO 168lb contender Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (33-0, 24 KOs) has one month to go before he challenges WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (44-4, 29 KOs) on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley 3 fight on HBO PPV on April 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ramirez, 6’2”, is being thrown to the wolves so to speak with him being put in with the 35-year-old Abraham in this fight. Ramirez, 24, has little in the way of experience at the pro level.

The experience Ramirez has going for him consists of his fight against fringe contender Maxim Vlasov last year in January 2015 in a fight that Ramirez barely won by a 10 round decision. Ramirez was quickly backed off from stiff competition after that fight, and he’s looked a lot better against the two poor opponents he’s been in with.

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Arum talks Brandon Rios and Gilberto Ramirez

arum4By Dan Ambrose: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says he was able to get WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (44-4, 29 KOs) to agree to come to the U.S to fight his fighter Gilberto Ramirez (33-0, 24 KOs) by making him an offer he can’t refuse.

Arum needs the 24-year-old Ramirez to defeat Abraham in order to turn him into a star. Abraham and Ramirez will be fighting on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley 3 card on April 9 on HBO pay-per-view from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It’s unclear how much money it cost the 84-year-old Arum to get Abraham to agree to come over from Germany to take the fight with Ramirez. Abraham normally doesn’t fight outside of his home country of Germany.

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Arum sees Gilberto Ramirez as opposite of Chavez Jr

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.

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Feb. 10 – LA Press Conf Announcing Pacquiao-Bradley World Title Undercard

LOS ANGELES (January 28, 2016) — Undefeated contenders GILBERTO “Zurdo” RAMIREZ, ÓSCAR VALDEZ and JOSE RAMÍREZ, former world champion EVGENY GRADOVICH and Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum will host a Los Angeles press conference luncheon on Wednesday, February 10. The participants will be announcing their championship fights on the Manny Pacquiao – Timothy Bradley pay-per-view undercard.

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Arthur Abraham battles Gilberto Ramirez on April 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada

abraham553By Dan Ambrose: WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham will be defending his title against Top Rank fighter Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (33-0, 24 KOs) on April 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The fight will be televised on HBO pay-per-view, as the fight will the co-feature on the Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley card. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum hasn’t been putting on a lot of interesting fights on some of Pacquiao’s recent cards, but for his fight against Bradley, Arum is really stacking the card.

You can make an argument that Arum is only doing this because with Pacquiao saying he’s retiring after this fight, he’s going to need to have some popular fighters in his Top Rank stable that can step up and become stars themselves.

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