The Only Option for Gilberto Ramírez is to Defeat Gabe Rosado in Convincing Fashion

After his disappointing performance against world champion Dmitry Bivol, which earned him great criticism, powerful Mexican puncher Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramírez is now obliged, not only to win, but to win in convincing fashion against American veteran Gabe Rosado. Only then can he erase the image left behind from his previous performance.

Former WBO super middleweight world champion Ramírez (44-1, 30 KOs) will face Rosado (26-16-1, 15 KOs) on March 18th at the Walter Pyramid on the campus of Long Beach (CA) State University. A merciless battle lies ahead, typical of the historic duels between Mexicans and Puerto Ricans.

A short time ago, on November 5th, Ramírez suffered the first defeat of his professional career. He appeared timid and lacked aggression, facilitating Bivol’s victory at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Prior to the fight, Ramírez created an atmosphere of optimism among Mexican boxing fans, not only because of the possibility of taking the world belt from Bivol, but also because his victory would serve to avenge Bivol’s affront against him, as well as fellow Mexican Canelo’s loss to Bivol five months earlier.

However, Ramírez did very little in the ring. Throughout his poor performance, he allowed Bivol to continually take the initiative, land great shots and consequently be victorious by a wide unanimous decision.

In a fair representation of what happened during the 12 rounds, South African judge Stanley Christodoulou and Polish judge Pawel Kardyni delivered scores of 117-111, while the Monaco judge, Jean-Robert Lainet, saw Bivol win by a wider margin with a score card of 118-110.

Although he had expressed great confidence in Ramírez’s performance, Oscar De La Hoya, president of Golden Boy Promotions, tried to justify what transpired in the ring.

“I think it was a big moment on the big stage against a great fighter, and he possibly froze in the fight,” said De La Hoya. “But Bivol, hands down to him. He’s got to be one of the best fighters out there pound-for-pound.” Perhaps a better argument would have been the fact that Ramirez was drained after dropping down to 175 pounds.

As “still water does not move mills,” Ramírez is already focused on his next fight, in which he must prove that his setback against Bivol was simply the product of a bad outing and that he is still a competitive challenge for the 175-pound contenders.

“I’m glad to be back. I had a lot of time to reflect since my last fight and am looking forward to putting on a show against a very-game veteran like Gabe Rosado,” said Ramirez. “Just like everyone else, I have goals, dreams and aspirations to be on top and I feel more motivated today than ever. We may get knocked off our path, but my quest for greatness will never stop. I appreciate all the love from my fans and supporters and I promise to be back with a vengeance. See you guys March 18th!”

In April 2016, Ramírez conquered the WBO belt at 168 pounds, unanimously defeating Armenian-German Artur Abraham at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.After five successful defenses, Ramírez jumped to the light heavyweight division. In his first match, he defeated American Tommy Karpency (30-8-1, 19 KOs) at the Staples Center in LA. Karpency’s corner stopped the fight after the fourth round.

Gabe Rosado, 37 years old and born in Philadelphia, has suffered three consecutive losses, the most recent by unanimous decision against Kazakh Ali Akhmedov (19-1, 14 KOs) at the T-Mobile Arena. They fought for the IBF and WBC vacant belts.

“I’m excited to start the year off with a bang. I have a great deal of respect for Zurdo Ramírez. We’re friends, but come March 18, it’s all business,” said Rosado. “This is the kind of fight Gabriel Rosado shows up for. I will not let myself or the fans down. Thank you to Golden Boy Promotions and DAZN for the opportunity.”

Rosado has been considering the possibility of retirement and will certainly lean that way if he suffers a fourth consecutive loss.

“This is a dangerous crossroads fight featuring the explosive Mexico vs. Puerto Rico rivalry,” said De La Hoya. “Zurdo will attempt to make a comeback statement against the certified dream-spoiler Gabe Rosado who has derailed the careers of various top fighters.”

Article submitted by Jorge Juan Álvarez in Spanish.

Please note any adjustments made were for clarification purposes and any errors in translation were unintentional.

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