Veteran Gabe Rosado will be in the familiar role of the underdog this Saturday, March 18th, when he faces former super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez in a 12 round fight at light heavyweight on DAZN at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, CA. The DAZN-streamed card starts at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.
While the oddsmakers & boxing public view the 37-year-old middleweight Rosado (26-16-1, 15 KOs) as the token lamb for the younger and much bigger cruiserweight-sized Ramirez (44-1, 30 KOs) to slaughter, we could see an upset in this fight.
Ramirez has lost a lot of hand speed from his game in the last six years due to his aging, and while he’s still a young fighter, it’s clear from watching his past fights that his hand speed now has dramatically slowed.
In Ramirez’s last fight in November against WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, he was embarrassed by the talented champion, schooled for 12 rounds, and made to look like he didn’t belong in the same ring. Ramirez looked even worse than Canelo did against Bivol, and that’s hard to do.
What that fight showed is Ramirez doesn’t belong among the top contenders in the 175-lb division. He’s a fringe-level guy, for sure, but he clearly lacks the speed and explosiveness required to sit among the other top light heavyweight contender.
Rosado has lost five out of his last seven fights, but he’s still as powerful as ever, technically superior to Ramirez, and much faster in the hand & foot speed department.
Gabe’s management has matched him incredibly tough in the last four years, putting him in with these talented fighters:
Ali Akhmedov
Shane Mosley Jr
Jaime Munguia
Maciel Sulecki
Daniel Jacobs
With Rosado being matched against those fighters, it’s understandable that he would lose to most. The loss to Jacobs was highly controversial, though, as Rosado deserved decision in the eyes of the fans for their fight in 2020.
Rosado’s third round knockout win over highly touted Bektemir Melikuziev in 2021 came against an arguably superior fighter than Ramirez. Bektemir is faster, more powerful and technically a superior than Ramirez, and Rosado destroyed him.
Gilberto Ramirez’s experience at 175
- Dmitry Bivol
- Tommy Karpency
- Sullivan Barrera
- Yunieski Gonzalez
- Dominic Boesel
- Alfonso Lopez
“Now he uses this [his head]. Gabe Rosado knows how to use that experience, so I think as many people don’t give Rosado a chance to win this fight, I will go on record and say that he will put up a damn good fight, and it’s going to be up to the judges to see if he can get the rounds,” said Sergio Mora to DAZN’s Jabs about Saturday’s clash between Gilberto Ramirez and Gabe Rosado.
“On the outside, use your legs, stay on the outer perimeter of the ring, avoid firefights; these are all things that Gabe Rosado knows how to do because he’s a veteran.”
