By Brian Webber: Dmitry Bivol showed improvements in his game against Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez over what he’d shown last May when he schooled Canelo Alvarez over 12 rounds in Las Vegas.
Although Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) largely played it safe in defeating mandatory Ramirez (44-1, 30 KOs) to defend his WBA light heavyweight crown, he was more aggressive and opened up with his offense more frequently than he had against Canelo.
Part of the reason for Bivol showing more aggression last Saturday night was because of how slow & limited Zurdo Ramirez was.
What was obvious after four rounds is that Ramirez wasn’t the fighter that some casual boxing fans thought he was going into the contest. Ramirez looked like an average fringe contender and not someone with a 44-0 record sitting in the mandatory spot with the WBA.
Ramirez’s different promoters during his career have skillfully maneuvered him, matching him against beatable opposition to building a fluff record. With that kind of a weak opponent, it wasn’t a shock that Bivol dominated him the way he did.
“Dmitry Bivol has successfully defended his WBA light heavyweight title, soundly outpointing Gilberto Ramirez to hand the first loss of his career,” said Chris Mannix to DAZN Boxing.
“A tremendous performance by Dmitry Bivol. Was this even better than what we saw from Dmitry against Canelo?”
“Yeah, I think so because a lot of the questions coming into tonight in terms of how we thought the fight would play out would be Gilberto Ramirez on the front foot,” said Ade Oladipo.
“In the first four or five rounds, you thought it was going to be him pressing the action, but it wasn’t. It was Bivol pressing the action, landing the better shots, and the combinations as well.
“He [Bivol] came into the fight a slight favorite, and I thought that might work against him because I always felt that he raised his game when the pressure is on.
“He showed that not only is he arguably the best light heavyweight out there. I know some people are going to argue about Beterbiev, but he’s a pound-for-pound top-five for me.
“That performance was the fighter of the year as well. He surprised me there. That was an unbeaten Gilberto Ramirez. Yes, there were questions about Gilberto Ramirez’s wins that got him to 44-0, but as an unbeaten fighter, I thought he won comfortably. I gave Ramirez only three rounds,” said Oladipo.
“I’m always going to rank the Canelo win as the biggest and best win of Bivol’s career, but it was the way he won tonight,” said Chris Mannix. “Gilberto Ramirez came in with a reputation as a pressure fighter, but he was Bivol operating on the front foot for most of the night.”
“On paper, this was a harder fight than Canelo because the guy [Ramirez] has a massive long reach; he can punch,” said Barry Jones. “I know that Canelo can, but he’s physically bigger, and you would think physically stronger. I’m not quite sure about that.
“So, on paper, it was a more difficult fight, but it wasn’t. It looked cagey for the first four rounds. If you go back to some of Bivol’s earlier fights, that’s sort of his MO.
“He doesn’t do too much. It’s like he’s testing the waters of what you react to, but then he ups the key. Not a lot. Just enough and again, the feet. It’s very subtle. Little movements and he leans onto the backfoot, you think, ‘Why is Ramirez in range? Why do you let your hands go?’
“It’s because of that. Little tiny movement with the feet. They’re leaning onto the backfoot, and you’re there, but you don’t feel comfortable to let your shots go,” said Jones.
“I think what it is as well is he’s [Bivol] got respectable power,” said Oladipo. “It’s not detonating power. You think of other light heavyweights in the past like Kovalev.
“It isn’t that type of power, but when Ramirez got in, he was afraid to let his hands go because he felt something in the first four or five rounds.
“He felt the power of Dmitry Bivol. Look, I have to admit. I think I’ve slept on Bivol. When he fought Craig Richards, I thought, ‘He’s not that special.’ When he fought Joe Smith, I thought he was okay, but he got caught late in that fight.
“A few more seconds in that fight, and you never know. I feel like I slept on him, and he’s crept up on me. I do believe we’re looking at one of the best fighters right now. It’s going to take a lot to beat Dmitry Bivol because he can do a bit of everything,” said Oladipo.
“What he’s done most of his career is just enough,” said Jones about Bivol. “He gets stoppages, but he won’t overcommit. Even tonight, he had Ramirez in trouble a few times, possibly, but he wouldn’t take that risk because the risk isn’t worth the reward for him.
“He wants the win. He doesn’t want to impress. If he impresses, that’s great, but that’s not his focus. His focus is to win and only win,” said Jones about Bivol.
“He wants the Beterbiev fight; that’s obviously what he wants,” said Oladipo. “We know that Beterbiev has got work with Anthony Yarde in the UK, and we also know, unfortunately, that Beterbiev has a long history of injuries.
“It’s a case of this guy fights once a year, not because he wants to, but because his body can’t keep up with what he wants to do in the ring. So he might have to take something in between. The in-between options are good.
“There’s Canelo at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Maybe we go there again and get a lot of money. I think he takes [Joshua] Buatsi. I think he takes a stop-gap while he waits for Canelo.
“Look, Canelo, we know has had hand surgery. Eddie Hearn has said that Canelo will be able to fight back in May. I don’t know if he will be, and if he isn’t, and here’s a September date, he takes something in between.
“Joshua Buatsi was here. It’s a big fight in the UK. It sells out the O2 Arena. Maybe you do that,” said Oladipo about Bivol potentially fighting Buatsi.
“Also, the whole thing about, ‘You only beat me because I was too big. I’m your weight now,'” said Barry Jones.
“No rehydration clauses, please,” said Oladipo. “If we’re going to do 168, let’s do 168
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