Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez: Can He Fill the Void As the Best Super Middleweight?
It has been a few years since we had a dominant champion in the Super Middleweight division. In the 90’s, we had great champions such as Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, SR. and Steve Collins. These fighters also brought excitement to this division as well. Then of course we had the “Pride of Wales” Joe Calzaghe, who took over the division for 10 years (1997-2007) and made 21 title defenses. After his departure, we had the popular Super Six Tournament to see who the best fighter was in the division. Andre Ward won this tournament and came out on top. Ward then decided to move up to Light Heavyweight and Carl Froch took over for a little bit.
Since Froch retired in 2014, the division has been up for grabs since. We do have the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) taking place between some of the top fighters in that division. The Semi Finals take place this month, with the final taking place in May of this year. One of the fighters not involved in this tournament is Gilberto Ramirez who is the current WBO Super Middleweight champion. He is also a top super middleweight fighter and according to Ring Magazine is the #1 Super Middleweight.
The question is: Should he be ranked number #1 and is he really that good?
Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, 37-0, 25 KO’s, of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico wants to prove that he is the best. He is a southpaw fighter in which his nickname “Zurdo” fits him well. Zurdo means left handed. The 26 year old Ramirez already made boxing history by becoming the first Mexican to win a world title as a super middleweight. Ramirez is a tall 6’2” fighter and fights at 168 lbs., which makes him stand out. Many great Mexican fighters over the years have been in the smaller weight divisions and not this high in weight.
So far there is a lot to like about him. He is humble and has a great personality, which are good traits in a fighter. In the ring though, he is ferocious and intense. He has a come forward style and applies a lot of pressure. This past weekend, Ramirez made the 3rd title defense of his title with a stoppage victory over Habib Ahmed in Corpus Christi, Texas. He broke down his opponent with constant pressure and landed some good body shots. So far Top Rank has something good in their hands and they are promoting him well. In the post-fight interview on the ESPN telecast, he did his interview in English. This is another plus for Ramirez to sell himself in front of an American audience. He also called out the winner of the WBSS tournament. He said he will fight anyone and anywhere.
So far, so good for Ramirez as he is on the right path to stardom. Ramirez has fought solid competition but the most notable name he has fought so far is Arthur Abraham. It remains to be seen who Top Rank will put him against next. Either way, he is exciting and we look forward to his next fight. Hopefully this year he will fight one of the top super middleweights out there. This will give us an idea of how good he is. We know the WBSS is underway and we probably won’t see Ramirez fight any of those guys until next year. Just a thought, how about a showdown between Ramirez and the youngest title holder, 21 year old David Benavidez? That would be a barn burner. Any of the Dirrell Brothers would also be attractive fights as well. Let’s not forget about James DeGale or spoiler Caleb Traux. They would be good challenges too. So there is many options for Ramirez. If Ramirez can keep winning and put himself on top of the division, maybe a Canelo Alvarez showdown? That would be huge.
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