Bivol vs. Ramirez Preview
The WBA light heavyweight title will be on the line on Saturday November 5th in Abu Dhabi. Champion Dmitry Bivol will defend against former super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez.
Bivol (20-0, 11 KO) is coming off the biggest win of his career where he defeated former pound for pound great Canelo Alvarez by unanimous decision in May. The win was the his ninth title defense since being promoted to champion in 2017. Bivol surprised many by dominating Alvarez like he had his opponents in his previous seven fights.
The Russian fighter heads into this fight with Ramirez fully confident, but not necessarily because he defeated Alvarez in his last fight. When asked if he is more confident now that he has beaten Alvarez he responded, “My confidence not depends on my last victories. My confidence depends on my training camps. If I did everything my coach said on training camp, I feel confident. And I know I have good skills. Sometimes you can show your skills, sometimes you can’t for some reasons, but if your camp was good you will show your skills.”
Should Bivol win on Saturday a rematch with Alvarez is looming but so it a unification bout. What does Bivol care about?. “Yeah money is good, but legacy I think is better. If you have money — I love money, too. Everyone loves money. But money is not the main thing what I am thinking about when I came to boxing. When I came to box, I want to make history. If I thought about money I will never be here.”
The 31-year-old went on to say, “It’s a business and I have my goal, I want to move forward. I said it before, I don’t have too much time in my career. 32 years soon and I want to move forward as much as I can. But it could happen. It’s not the (worst) option if I fight Canelo again. But my priority is for another belt.”
The win over Alvarez has made Bivol a much more recognizable champion and even he has noticed. "Much more people recognize me and stop me, take a photo with me," Bivol said. Bivol took a much more aggressive approach against Alvarez than he had in his previous three decision victories. His lack of fear has now opened him up to amazing opportunities, but he must first get by Ramirez on Saturday.
Ramirez (44-0, 30 KO) is the former WBO super middleweight champion, and he defended the belt five times. He is the first Mexican born fighter to hold a major title at super middleweight. The 31-year-old defeated the current IBO light heavyweight champion Dominic Boesel by fourth round KO in May.
The Mexican fighter is confident heading into a tough fight with Bivol. "I can't wait to prove to everyone and to myself that I can do this," said Ramirez. "Bivol is a tough guy. He's a really good challenge. But I am going to avenge the Mexican population since he beat Canelo."
Ramirez knows how tough Bivol is, but believes he has what it takes to become the best light heavyweight in the world. “He’s the best light heavyweight in the game right now,” said Ramirez, then he added, “But I’m just better.”
“[It’s] nothing to do with him. When you know you’re the best fighter in the world, it doesn’t matter who my opponent is.”
While Ramirez has many notable wins over contenders at super middleweight, Bivol most certainly represents his greatest challenge to date. But Rmairez believes he is the feared fighter in the matchup. “He has been avoiding me for the last couple of years, but now, he has nowhere to go, so now is the time,” said Ramírez. “It will be an exciting fight for me and the fans, and this is a fight that the fans have been asking for a long time. Now, two of the best fighters in the light heavyweight division will fight one another.”
The fight can ben seen on DAZN.
