By Craig Daly: Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez and his manager David Suh believe they’ll be getting the fight against WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol next despite the comments from Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn about Joshua Buatsi possibly getting the shot.
It’s difficult to imagine the WBA rejecting Hearn’s request for an exception for Bivol because the powerful promoter has a large stable of fighters. You can argue that it helps if the World Boxing Association stays on Hearn’s good side by giving him what he’s asking for.
Ramirez’s manager, Suh, says he’s paying “too much attention” to the talk, and he feels that the unbeaten #1 WBA Gilberto (44-0, 30 KOs) will be next for Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs).
Even if the 31-year-old Ramirez doesn’t get the fight next against Bivol, he’ll get his shot at the WBA 175-lb soon, but it might be a little later, potentially against the undefeated Buatsi (16-0, 13 KOs) if he dethrones the champion, Dmitry, next.
It might be a good thing for the former WBO super middleweight champion Zurdo Ramirez if he doesn’t get the fight against Bivol next because he needs more work to increase his chances of success against the talented champion from Eastern Europe.
Ramirez is too slow and one-dimensional at this point to have any chances whatsoever of beating Bivol.
If Ramirez, 31, fights Bivol right now, he’ll lose badly because he lacks the speed, boxing skills, and talent to have any chances of winning, aside from an injury.
Ideally, Ramirez needs to trim off 10 to 15 pounds of bulk to get down from the 204 lbs he rehydrated for his last fight to go down to around 190.
If Ramirez can lose some of the useless weight he’s packed on since moving up from the 168-lb division, he might get a little faster, which could help him with his painfully slow hand & foot speed.
“I’ve heard some stuff, but I don’t really pay too much attention to the garbage,” said Zurdo Ramirez’s manager David Suh to Bob Trieger. “The WBA and Mr. Gilberto Mendoza have been great to us, and we look forward to getting this done.”
“Zurdo has been called as a mandatory, but we’ve already put in an exception for Bivol to fight [Joshua] Buatsi, so that will be reviewed by the WBA either way,” said Eddie Hearn to the DAZN Boxing Show.
It’s going to be hard for the WBA to say no to the charismatic Hearn because it’s not a good idea for the sanctioning body to get on his wrong side by rejecting his simple request for Bivol to be granted an exception.
“I’m in this position for a reason. The WBA is a tremendous organization, and I believe the right process will prevail,” said Gilberto Ramirez to Bob Trieger about his belief he’ll fight Bivol next.
