By Dan Ambrose: David Benavidez says he’s picking Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez to defeat WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol on November 5th because he’s his “friend.”
Benavidez says Zurdo Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs) will need to cut off the ring on the quick-footed Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) and get in close so that he can attack his body.
In the distant past, Benavidez sparred with Bivol and had success throwing to the body. Of course, Bivol has improved a lot since then, and he shut down Canelo Alvarez’s attempts at throwing to his body last May.
Canelo is arguably a better body puncher than Ramirez, and of course, with far superior hand speed. Ramirez has no speed at all, even if you were to compare him to heavyweights.
Bivol and Ramirez will be headlining on DAZN on November 5th at the Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi. If Bivol wins, he’ll be in line for a rematch with Canelo next May.
Ramirez, unfortunately, doesn’t have that option if he comes out victorious due to Canelo saying he doesn’t wish to fight Mexican fighters. The only option available for Ramirez is a fight against IBF, WBC & WBO 175-lb champion Artur Beterbiev.
As easy as Ramirez is to hit, he’ll be in great danger of being knocked out by Beterbiev. Even if Ramirez doesn’t get stopped by Beterbiev, he will take a beating and maybe wish he’d been knocked out at the end of the fight.
“I’m going to go more towards Zurdo Ramirez because he’s my friend, and I want him to win, and I know him really good, but it’s going to be a tough fight,” said David Benavidez to Fighthype, picking Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez to defeat Dmitry Bivol on November 5th.
“With the lefties [southpaw Zurdo Ramirez] is the right hand, and Bivol has a great right hand. But Bivol, when I sparred him, he’s really susceptible to the body shots, and Ramirez throws really good body shots.
“I feel this fight is going to come down to who has more heart and wants it more. Zurdo Ramirez he’s going to have to close down the ring and cut the corners off for Bivol because Bivol has some great feet, as you can see from Canelo’s fight.
“After that fight in the future, hopefully, I can go up to 175 and challenge those guys too. I know them personally and have no problems with them, but this is boxing, and I want to be the best. So hopefully, I can get a fight against them in the future.
“Basically, you’re starting all over again,” said Benavidez about moving up to 175. “The people at 175, they’re not in my stable. They’re not with PBC. So I’m basically going to have to go to DAZN and Top Rank. Thee politics and stuff is hard,” said Benavidez.
