Light heavyweight contender Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez says he thinks Canelo Alvarez made the wrong choice by choosing to face Dmitry Bivol next rather than David Benavidez or Jermall Charlo for his May 7th fight on DAZN at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The former WBO 168-lb champion Ramirez (43-0, 29 KOs) says the fighters like Canelo should be facing the best opposition and “giving the fans what they want.”
That’s not happening with a lot of fighters, and Canelo is just one of many in the sport that seems to have turned a deaf ear to what the fans want to see him compete against.
Had Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) accepted PBC’s two-fight $100 million+ deal, he’d be facing Jermall Charlo on May 7th and David Benavidez on September 17th in fights that would have entertained the boxing world.
Instead of agreeing to the deal from PBC/Showtime, Canelo accepted the Matchroom Boxing & DAZN three-fight deal to face Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) on May 7th, and potentially Gennadiy Golovkin on September 17th followed by a possible December match against either John Ryder or Ilunga Makabu.
Fans have no interest in seeing Canelo fight Makabu or Ryder in December. Those fights would be along the lines of Canelo’s mismatches against Avni Yildirim and Rocky Fielding.
“It was great. I learned a lot because, at that time, I was at 168, but no one wants to fight me because I’m at 175 pounds and the best in the world. I’ll prove it sooner or later,” said Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez to Fighthype about his sparring with Bivol in the past.
“I’m kind of upset a little bit, but he went to get paid,” said Zurdo when asked if he’s disappointed that Bivol didn’t defend his WBA light heavyweight title against him because he’s ranked #2 with the World Boxing Association at 175.
Zurdo Ramirez has been pushing hard for a title shot against Bivol, and you can’t blame him. With Ramirez’s #2 ranking with the World Boxing Association, he deserves a title shot against Bivol more than Canelo, who isn’t ranked in the top 15 by the WBA at 175.
It’s unlikely Ramirez will be getting a title shot anytime soon for the WBA belt, as even if Bivol beats Canelo, there will be a rematch. If Canelo beats Bivol, he’s not going to defend the WBA belt against Ramirez.
If Canelo dethrones Bivol, he’ll be freezing the WBA title and returning to the 168-lb division to defend his undisputed championship against Golovkin, provided he beats WBA 160lb champion Ryota Murata on April 9th.
“Anyway, he’s going to lose his belt with the Mexicans,” said Gilberto in predicting that Canelo will defeat Bivol to take his WBA title from him on May 7th.
“Yeah, I think so for sure,” Ramirez continued about his belief that Canelo will beat Bivol. “He knows what he’s doing in the ring, he does a lot of things, and he has a good guard,” Gilberto said about Canelo.
“The other guy, he comes back and forth and he throws the one-two and he’s very used to that,” Zurdo said about Bivol’s fighting style.
“Canelo, he could have chosen Benavidez or Charlo, but I think he couldn’t make more money and couldn’t do better because he’s a challenging fights, but he chose the Bivol fight. Whatever he wants, he’s been good.
“He [Canelo] says he wants to support the Mexicans, but I don’t see the support with that in taking the fight [with Bivol]. It’s a tough challenge because he’s a world champion, but I think for me all the people want to see Benavidez or Charlo.
“We want to see competition and give the fans what they want, but they don’t want to fight. It’s not up to me. It’s up to them.
“If they want to fight or what they’re doing. We as a fighter, that’s what we do, we fight anyone, anywhere,” said Gilberto.
