Mexico’s Gilberto Ramirez made boxing history this past Saturday night, as he became the first fighter from his country to win a world super-middleweight title. The unbeaten 24-year-old shut-out tough old warrior Arthur Abraham over 12-rounds on the Pac-Man-Bradley card in Las Vegas. A fine talent who had been groomed for championship level and for stardom, the tall, 6’2.5”, southpaw improved to 34-0(24) and he stated after his commanding win how he is open to fighting “anybody” in the near future.
One man who could, perhaps, prove to be a hugely interesting foe for “Zurdo,” as the Sinaloa native is known, is none other than feared middleweight Gennady Golovkin. Ramirez, flush with success at having schooled Abraham, “the Mexican way,” said that, yes, he’d fight even the scarily good talent known as GGG. In fact, there has been talk of a possible Ramirez-Golovkin fight for some months now. Ramirez lists GGG as one of his favourite fighters, yet he has expressed interest in fighting him. Ramirez’ promoter Bob Arum is also interested in the fight.
Golovkin, as we know, finds it tough getting himself a marquee opponent to fight him; maybe the answer is a showdown with the new WBO 168-pound champ. In the past, GGG has spoken of moving up in weight if it was necessary for him to get a big fight (he was interested in a fight with now-retired super-middleweight champ Carl Froch) and maybe he will take the leap up eight-pounds to tackle Ramirez. Or, in light of how tall Ramirez is (and GGG stands just above 5’10”) maybe we could see another – yes another – catch-weight bout take place.
But if Canelo Alvarez Vs. Golovkin continues to prove to be such a hard fight to make, maybe GGG against Ramirez could be built into a genuine super-fight. Either at full super-middleweight or at a catch-weight of around 164, to 165, this one would be hugely interesting and exciting. The winner would have a fine win on his record, while the loser, if the fight were competitive, would be able to come again without too much harm done reputation-wise.
Who knows, maybe the southpaw from the great fighting country of Mexico is the man to bring out the very best of the incredible talent from Kazakhstan. Would “Zurdo” – with his height, reach, speed, boxing ability, power and stance – even prove to be too much for GGG?
First of course, Golovkin must take care of the unbeaten, and vocally confident, Dominic Wade on April 23rd.
