By Robert Segal: Bob Arum is giving his former fighter Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez a “good shot” of defeating Dmitry Bivol on November 5th. Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) defends his WBA light heavyweight title against mandatory Ramirez on DAZN at Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, in UAE.
Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs) is no longer with Arum’s Top Rank promotional company and has signed with Golden Boy Promotions, who are trying to help capture his first world title at 175 against WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs).
Despite loads of potential early on, the 13-year professional Ramirez has failed to become a superstar, and it’s unclear whether he ever will. Even though Ramirez has a lot of knockouts on his resume, he’s not a big puncher.
Most of his knockouts have come from his volume punching, and he’s not faced the high-caliber opposition needed for him to become a star. Ramirez held the WBO super middleweight title from 2016 to 2018, but he didn’t beat anyone special during that time.
Ramirez wanted to fight Canelo and Gennadiy Golovkin, but neither of them showed interest.
In moving up to 175, Ramirez has gained a lot of weight and become very slow with his punches. That lack of speed could hurt his chances of victory against Bivol because he’s a lot faster, and unlike Ramirez, he throws combinations rather than loading up on single shots.
“You’re discounting Zurdo Ramirez. Ramirez is in with a good shot against Bivol,” said Bob Arum to Fighthype. “I give him a shot. We promoted Ramirez for many, many years, and I always felt that he was a very good fighter, hard-working, and personally, I thought he was a terrific young man.
“I give him a shot with Bivol, a really good shot. That’s not to say that Bivol isn’t a really good fighter, as he’s proved in the ring. It takes a really good fighter to beat Canelo Alvarez, and he won a pretty wide decision against Canelo.
“I consider myself a good friend of Canelo. I’ve spent time with him. He’s a really charming guy, but I don’t talk business with him. So I really don’t know what he’s thinking about where he goes after his next fight. But Canelo Alvarez is one of the best fighters of our time, and he and Eddy Reynoso will figure it out.
“Whoever wins that fight and if [Artur] Beterbiev is successful, I’ve talked to Artur, and he wants to do that fight if he’s successful with Yarde.
“Beterbiev was born in Chechnya, which is Russia, but he’s lived and operated out of Canada for over ten years, so he’s about as Canadian as you can be.
“He’ll fight anybody, and I’m really proud of him with the way that he’s always willing to step up to the plate to face the toughest available opponent,” said Arum.
