By Sean Jones: Oscar De La Hoya believes Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez is showing enough improvement in his speed & mobility to where he’ll knock out WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol on November 5th.
De La Hoya says he wants to make a Gilberto vs. Canelo Alvarez fight in 2023 if Zurdo successfully gets past Bivol. That doesn’t seem too likely, as Canelo has already ruled out a fight with Ramirez due to his decision not to face Mexican fighters.
For the record, Bivol is the favorite with the oddsmakers due to his superior hand speed, mobility, and technical ability. Also, Bivol is the far better combination puncher.
Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs) has looked very slow since moving up to 175 in 2019, and it’s difficult to imagine him suddenly gaining speed at 31 ahead of his crucial fight against Bivol (20-0, 11 KOS) on DAZN at the Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi.
“Not only because of his size, not only because he’s southpaw, his power, but I like the way he’s moving his feet,” said Oscar De La Hoya to ESNEWS about why he believes Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez beats Dmitry Bivol on November 5th.
“I like the way he’s throwing combinations. He’s being very elusive. Bivol is a fighter that wants to wait for you. He wants to make a mistake, the way that he would wait for Canelo.
“Canelo would throw one punch, and that was it, and he was countering. Zurdo has the right game plan. He’s offsetting him, wants to throw a lot of combinations, and he has a lot of conditioning, which will be key in Abu Dhabi.
“Three to one, I love it,” said De La Hoya about Zurdo Ramirez being an underdog against Bivol. “It gives him fire! Three to one, I have the chance to beat the world champion, who beat the man [Canelo Alvarez].
“If it was ten to one, I would be a little [worried], but three to one? I’m going to go with Zurdo to maybe knock out Bivol. I would love to make Zurdo vs. Canelo. Zurdo vs. Canelo next year would be huge. An all-out Mexican war.
“I strongly feel Zurdo can put a number on Canelo. I think he can knock him out. I mean, Zurdo is a big guy. He’s looking ripped; he’s looking fast; he’s looking strong. I would love to see that fight,” said De La Hoya.
