By Chris Williams: Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez (39-0, 25 KOs) won’t be vacating his WBO super middleweight title after all, as believed by many. Ramirez, 27, says he NEVER vacated his World Boxing Organization title, according to Michael Benson, which means that the April 13 fight between Billy Joe Saunders and Shefat Isufi won’t have the WBO 168 lb title on the line for it like originally planned. The Saunders-Isufi fight is now pretty much meaningless without the WBO super middleweight title on the line. The only thing the fight will decide is who the #1 contender is for Ramirez. Saunders has the talent to beat Ramirez, but it wouldn’t be an easy fight for him like it would have been had he fought a limited guy like Isufi for the WBO 168 lb strap.
You can’t blame Ramirez for not wanting to give up his WBO super middleweight title, because he’s had an incredibly time defending that belt, thanks to his promoters at Top Rank Boxing, since he won the strap in beating Arthur Abraham by 12 round unanimous decision in April 2016. In Ramirez’s five defenses as the WBO super middleweight champion, he’s beaten these fighters: Max Bursak, Roamer Alexis Angulo, Habib Ahmed and Jesse Hart [x 2]. When the recent World Boxing Super Series super middleweight tournament kicked off, Ramirez didn’t take part in it, which would have given him a chance to prove himself against some of the other top fighters in the 168 lb weight class. It would have helped make a name for Ramirez in the U.S and worldwide if he had fought in the WBSS tournament, but for some reason he didn’t take part in it. Whether that was Ramirez’s idea or his promoters at Top Rank for him not to fight in the WBSS tournament is unclear. What is clear is a lot of boxing fans saw Ramirez being kept out of the tournament due to the high risk of him losing to the likes of Chris Eubank Jr., Callum Smith or George Groves.
Without the WBO 168 lb title on the line for the fight, it begs the question of what’s in it for Saunders? It’s believed that Saunders was targeting the WBO super middleweight title, because it was an easy one for him to win against a vulnerable fighter in Isufi, 27, for the former WBO middleweight champion. Whether the Saunders vs. Isufi fight goes ahead at this point is unclear.
Saunders (27-0, 12 KOs) and #1 WBO Isufi (27-3-2, 20 KOs) were reportedly going to be battling it out for the vacant WBO super middleweight title with the understanding that Ramirez was moving up to light heavyweight to test the waters in that weight class.
Now that Gilberto Ramirez has returned as the WBO super middleweight, it means that he’s no longer ranked #1 with the World Boxing Organization at 175. Anthony Yarde is back at #1 with the WBO at light heavyweight. Ramirez could have gotten a quick title shot against WBO at light heavyweight against champion Sergey Kovalev, but he wouldn’t have been able to keep his WBO super middleweight title as well. That’s not how it goes. The WBO doesn’t let a champion keep his belt when he moves up in weight to become mandatory challenger for the champions in the next higher weight class with the sanctioning body. For example, if WBO cruiserweight champion Oleksander Usyk wants to become the #1 WBO mandatory for WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, he can’t keep his WBO cruiserweight title just in case he gets beaten by AJ. Usyk would need to make up his mind whether he wants to stay at cruiserweight to continue to defend his WBO belt or move up to heavyweight and be installed as the #1 WBO mandatory for Joshua.
It’s unclear whether Gilberto thought he could be installed as the #1 mandatory for WBO light heavyweight champion Kovalev without giving up his WBO 168 lb title. If so, then it must have been a surprise to Ramirez when he heard talk of Saunders vs. Isufi taking place with his WBO super middleweight title on the line for the fight. If Ramirez was a huge puncher, and incredibly talented, it would make sense for him to vacate his WBO super middleweight title, and go up to light heavyweight to challenge the likes of Kovalev or some of the other champions like WBC champ Oleksander Gvozdyk or IBF champion Artur Beterbiev. But Ramirez’s lack of punching power would put him in a bad position against the harder punching champions at 175 like Kovalev, Beterbiev and Gvozdyk. Those guys would be looking to take Ramirez’s head off with each shot they hit him with.
Ramirez was forced to go the full 12 rounds in his two fights against fellow Top Rank Boxing fighter Jesse Hart (25-2, 21 KOs) in 2017 and 2018. Ramirez BARELY won both fights by narrow 12 round decisions. Hart is a good fighter, but he’s definitely not in the same class as the light heavyweight champions. Ramirez struggling to beat Hart, who is easily the best fighter he’s faced during his 10-year pro career suggests that he would be over his head if he moved up to light heavyweight to take on the belt holders in that division.
If Ramirez could make the same kind of money he’s been making as the WBO super middleweight champion in fighting as a mere contender at 175, then it might make sense for him to move up in weight to light heavyweight. However, it’s hard to see Ramirez making good money fight after fight as just a contender at 175. He’s clearly better off staying at super middleweight, and continuing to defend his WBO 168 lb belt against the guys that his promoters at Top Rank line up for him. They haven’t taken any real risks with Ramirez other than to put him in with Hart, who isn’t as talented as some of the other fighters in the super middleweight division like Callum Smith, Caleb Plant, Jose Uzcategui, David Benavidez, and Juergen Braehmer. Hart likely loses to all of those guys, and the same with Ramirez. But as long as Top Rank keeps matching Ramirez carefully at super middleweight, he should be able to hold onto his WBO title for next two to three years, and possibly even longer.
Here are the WBO’s rankings at super middleweight:
1. Shefat Isufi
2. Jesse Hart
3. Erik Bazinyan
4. Rohan Murdock
5. Zach Parker
6. Chris Eubank, Jr.
7. Zac Dunn
8. Juergen Braehmer
9. Arthur Abraham
10. Emmanuel Martey
11. Aslambek Idigov
12. Mate Kis
13. Patrick Rokohl
14. Roamer Alexis Angulo
15. Aidos Yerbossynuly
Arguably the best fighter of that bunch is 40-year-old Braehmer (50-3, 36 KOs), but he’s ranked #8 with the WBO, and it could take him years before he’s ranked high enough to get a title shot against Ramirez. If the WBO ordered Ramirez to defend the belt against Brahemer right now, he’s likely lose to him, because the German fighter is still competing at a very high level, as we saw in his recent win over Top Rank fighter Rob Brant in October 2017 in the World Boxing Super Series super middleweight tournament. Braehmer took Brant to school in winning an easy 12 round unanimous decision. By the time the WBO ranks Braehmer high enough to get a title shot against Ramirez, he might be 43 or even older. It’s hard to picture Braehmer being able to beat Ramirez at that age.
Whats interesting is the WBO hasns’t dropped the Top Rank promoted Hart down their rankings after his two losses in title shots against Ramirez. Hart is currently ranked #2 with the WBO. With that kind of ranking, it’s quite possible well be seeing a trilogy fight between Ramirez and Hart in 2019 or 2020. The constant back and forth fights between the same two guys is reminiscent of the fights Arthur Abraham had with Robert Stieglitz with the two German based fighters facing each other an incredible FOUR TIMES in a three year period between 2012 and 2015 with the WBO super middleweight title being on the line for all of those fights. It’s unheard of for two guys to go back and forth that many times involving the same WBO 168 lb title in just three year period. It was like a tea party. If Ramirez and Hart end up fighting each other three to four times with the WBO super middleweight title on the line each time, it’s going to be a pure flashback to the Abraham-Stieglitz fights.