Mexican Gilberto Ramirez (44-1, 30 KOs) lost zero in the defeat graph when he tried to conquer the second weight category – in November he lost to WBA Super champion Russian Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs).
Gilberto
thinksthat “it just wasn’t my day. I don’t want to devalue Bivol’s victory. He had a great fight. But it happens. I want a rematch. I want to fight the best of the best. I want to prove to myself that there is no one here stronger than me. If I defeat all those who are put to fight with me, then sooner or later I will get another chance to conquer the second division. I tried to box Bivol, but that tactic didn’t work. Perhaps she was wrong. Perhaps we should have gone further.”
Ramirez believes that Bivol would have defeated Canadian puncher Artur Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KOs) in a fight for the title of absolute division champion: “I think Bivol would have won. He has better footwork. But it’s a great fight. And as a boxing fan, I’d love to see him too. I would also like to fight Arthur. It would be a completely different fight. More explosive, on a collision course. It would be more difficult with Beterbiev. After all, he does not run, he always goes forward. I do not think that in our fight with Beterbiev, the audience would have waited for the final gong. I think that’s the kind of fight fans want to see.”
Ramirez claims that the debut defeat did him good – “now I’m hungry, more motivated.” In March, the Mexican has an interim fight against American gatekeeper Gabriel Rosado. In the meantime, Gilberto admits that it is hard for him to accept the defeat of Bivol.