Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez claims {that a} battle between him and IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia wouldn’t be a “50-50″ battle for him. Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs) states that he has “the perfect probability” of beating everybody within the division, together with Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs). Opetaia could possibly be subsequent for Ramirez, so he should again up what he says.
(Credit score: Golden Boy/Cris Esqueda)
Followers imagine Ramirez has zero probability of beating Opetaia and might be knocked out. Opetaia is seen as a much bigger, stronger, and youthful model of Dmitry Bivol. Ramirez misplaced to Bivol by a one-sided twelve-round unanimous determination in 2022, nevertheless it could possibly be worse for him if he faces Opetaia.
The 33-year-old Ramirez added the WBO cruiserweight title to his present WBA belt by defeating champion Chris Billiam-Smith (20-2, 13 KOs) on Saturday’s Latino Night time at The Venue in Saudi Arabia. It was arduous to imagine Billiam-Smith was a world champion as a result of he appeared no higher than the British stage.
The cruiserweight division is weak by way of expertise, permitting fighters like Billiam-Smith and Zurdo Ramirez to win titles they in any other case couldn’t in the event that they fought at gentle heavyweight or tremendous middleweight.
In that battle, Ramirez took many heavy pictures from Billiam-Smith however outworked and outboxed the fairly limited-looking fighter to win a 12-round unanimous determination by the scores of 116-112, 116-112, 116-113).
“It appeared like he was throwing arduous punches, nevertheless it didn’t do something to me,” mentioned Gilberto Ramirez to Boxing King Media when requested if he was affected by the punches from Chris Billiam-Smith in his win over him on Saturday.
If Billiam-Smith had a great set of wheels and higher conditioning, he would have caught as much as Ramirez and damage him with one thing sufficiently big to knock him out. Billiam-Smith was hitting Ramirez rather a lot with punches, however he couldn’t benefit from his energy resulting from his stamina and lack of mobility.
“I don’t find out about 50-50. I feel I’ve the perfect probability of beating everybody on this division,” mentioned Ramirez when instructed that followers imagine a battle between him and IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia could be a “50-50” one.
I don’t suppose Ramirez has a lot of any probability of beating Opetaia as a result of he’s too sluggish and simple to hit. The one probability Ramirez has towards him is that if he can beat him in a warfare, strolling by pictures and outworking him. We noticed how nicely Mairis Briedis did towards Opetaia of their rematch. It’s potential Ramirez can do the identical factor.
“Everybody noticed what we did within the ring, and now everyone seems to be speaking about me. That is the second time I’ve beat a champion within the division, and now individuals suppose I’m the true deal,” mentioned Ramirez. “I do know I’m the perfect cruiserweight within the division.”
Not many followers noticed the Latino Night time occasion on DAZN final Saturday evening. The followers that did see Ramirez beat Billiam-Smith and former WBA champion Arsen Goulamirian weren’t impressed sufficient to imagine he might defeat Opetaia and even be aggressive.
