De La Hoya wants Gilberto Ramirez to move to cruiserweight to challenge Badou Jack for his title

By Boxing News - 03/19/2023 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Oscar De La Hoya says he’d like to see his fighter Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez move up to cruiserweight to challenge newly crowned WBC champion Badou Jack next following his failure to make weight for his previously scheduled fight for last Saturday night against Gabe Rosado at the Pyramid Arena in Long Beach, California.

Some boxing fans would take issue with Gilberto Ramirez beinng given an immediate title shot against WBC cruiserweight champion Badou (28-3-3, 17 KOs) after missing weight for the Rosado fight and getting trounced in his contest before that against WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol in a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision last November.

Ramirez looked as bad as a fighter can look without getting knocked out, and the only reason he wasn’t stopped is that Bivol fought in first gear most of the fight and rarely shifted into second and third.

When Bivol did turn it on in the fourth briefly, he had Ramirez shaken, looking ready to be knocked out, but surprisingly, he backed off and spared the Mexican native, allowing him to survive the round.

De La Hoya, the head honcho for Golden Boy Promotions, was unhappy with Ramirez missing weight by a long shot by coming in at 182.6 lbs for his scheduled 175-lb fight against Rosado that had been slotted for the main event.

Ramirez had been rehydrating to over 200+ lbs for his recent fights against WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol and Dominic Boesel,  so it wasn’t a huge surprise to some when he finally failed to make weight.

When you get a fighter rehydrating 30 lbs after weighing in, that’s a red flag that it’s time for them to move up in weight.

What’s unclear if any of the top brass at Golden Boy Promotions had already talked with the 31-year-old former WBO super middleweight champion ‘Zurdo’Ramirez about him moving up to cruiserweight.

If not, why didn’t they? When you know your fighter is rehydrating 30+ lbs after weighing in, you got to talk to them because it’s too risky to put schedule them for the top spots in the cards. After all, you know they will eventually fail to make weight.

“You actually gave me a good idea. Why not go up in weight and fight Badou Jack? He just crowned himself world champion. It’ll be a great fight, so hopefully, we can make that happen soon,” said Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya to DAZN Boxing News about what Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez should do next.

“‘Zurdo’ has to really think about and dig deep down inside what he really wants to do,” De La Hoya continued.

“Does he want to stay in the sport? Or is his heart not into it? So, he’s got a lot of thinking to do, but I think there’s a lot of opportunities for ‘Zurdo’ and for Rosado as well.”

There’s something wrong about letting a fighter compete for a world title after they’ve lost their last fight and failed to make weight the way Ramirez has. That would be like rewarding him for two failures, sending the wrong message to other fighters and fans alike.

If Golden Boy wants to put Ramirez in a world title shot, he needs to work his way into the position by running the gauntlet first by beating these killers:

  • Richard Riakporhe
  • Mairis Briedis
  • Noel Gevor
  • Chris Billiam-Smith
  • Yuniel Dorticos

Ramirez posted a statement after failing to make weight, saying that this had never happened to him and wouldn’t happen again. But given how far overweight Ramirez was for the fight, would Golden Boy be willing to trust putting him in a top spot on a card if he continues to campaign at light heavyweight?