By Dan Ambrose: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum believes his fighter super middleweight contender Gilberto Ramirez (31-0, 24 KOs) is a future superstar and the next huge star in the sport. Ramirez is fighting Derek Edward (27-4-1, 14 KOs) this Friday night in a 10-round bout at the State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas. The Ramirez-Edwards fight will be televised on truTV starting at 10 p.m. ET.
We’re going to find out very soon if the 6’3” Ramirez is the real deal that Arum thinks he is or if this is just wishful thinking by an aging promoter whose No.1 star in his stable Manny Pacquiao is nearing the end of his long 20-year pro career.
It would sure help Arum if the 24-year-old Ramirez were to become the next superstar in the sport, but it’s not looking like that based on how poor Ramirez looked in his last fight against Maxim Vlasov last December. Instead of looking like the next start, Ramirez looked like the next Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., but a worse version in my view.
“I come here to win. I know lots of people think I am just coming as an opponent but they are in for a big surprise,” Edwards said via ESPN.com. “I have been in this position before and have come up with the win. My experience against top level competition gives me an edge in this fight.”
Edwards has a previous win over Badou Jack from last year when he knocked Jack out in the 1st round. If Ramirez stands in Edwards’ wheelhouse for any length of time on Friday, we could see Ramirez get knocked out quickly as well. Edwards can really pack a punch if he’s got an opponent with poor defensive skills like Ramirez in front of him, he can do major damage.
Ramirez needs to try and get Edwards out as fast as possible because the longer this fight goes on the more potential punishment that Ramirez is going to have to take. In Ramirez’s fight against Vlasov, he was hit constantly with head shots. I don’t think Vlasov missed a punch all night long. Ramirez was just so easy to hit.
That’s why I was surprised and shocked to hear Arum talking about Ramirez being a future champion and a superstar because he’s clearly a very, very flawed fighter with a fighting style that is wrong for his height. Ramirez likes to fight on the inside despite the fact that he’s 6’3”, and it causes him to get hit a lot.
That’s not good when you’re fighting in the super middleweight division against guys that can hurt you. In fact, Ramirez was shaken up in his last fight against Vlasov. He made out of the fight with a decision win, but it looked bad watching Ramirez get stunned by such a mediocre fighter.
You have to wonder why Arum made the Ramirez vs. Edwards fight only 10 rounds. I have a feeling that he did this because of how much punishment Ramirez took in the Vlasov fight. With Edwards’ kind power, it would be a bad if Ramirez has to go 10 rounds against him.
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