Notebook: Bivol focused on 'Zurdo' after putting win vs. Canelo in past

WBO makes orders official; BetUS show; Quick hits; Show and tell

Nov 05, 2022

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Shortly after Dmitry Bivol won a clear decision over Canelo Alvarez to retain the WBA light heavyweight title in an upset in May in Las Vegas, Alvarez came to the post-fight news conference and vowed he would assert his right to an immediate rematch rather than return to super middleweight, where he reigned as the undisputed champion.

Ultimately, it was bravado. Alvarez instead elected to return to 168 pounds and defended the title against longtime rival Gennadiy Golovkin in their September trilogy fight, which was a bigger event than a rematch with Bivol would have been, not to mention a seemingly easier fight.

Bivol, however, said he was not at all disappointed by Alvarez’s decision.

“Maybe it’s the right decision for him and his team,” Bivol told Fight Freaks Unite. “He had a deal to fight me and Golovkin. (It made) business sense.

“For me it’s OK. I have my own road. I beat him and I am glad. I have to move forward. I don’t need this fight against Canelo. Maybe to earn money but it’s not the main thing. Of course, money is one of the main things but it’s not main, you know? If I think about only money I wouldn’t be here. For this fight I earn the same money like against Canelo.”

The fight Bivol is speaking of is his anticipated mandatory defense against Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, a former super middleweight titleholder, who has won all five of his fights by knockout since moving up to light heavyweight in 2019.

Although Bivol’s team — promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing and manager Vadim Kornilov — tried to avoid the mandatory fight and instead take on a lesser opponent, Ramirez promoter Golden Boy pressed the issue with the WBA, which took Ramirez’s side and gave Bivol an ultimatum — defend next against Ramirez, who had won two eliminators in a row, or be relieved of the belt.

Soon after that edict, the sides made a deal in August for one of the more intriguing fights of the year. It will take place on Saturday (DAZN, 1:30 p.m. ET) at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where Bivol will make his 10th defense and Ramirez will seek to join Alvarez and the late Julio Gonzalez as only the third Mexican boxer to win a light heavyweight world title.

Bivol masterfully outboxed the smaller Alvarez but also stood and fought on the inside with him when necessary. Coming off that so-far career-defining victory, Bivol acknowledged that getting up for the fight with Ramirez has been more difficult than usual.

But he knows all about fighters such as Andy Ruiz, for example, who scored a big win over Anthony Joshua to take his unified heavyweight belts only to show up for a rematch in no condition, mentally or physically.

“It’s a little bit harder, yeah, because I spent a lot of emotion on the fight against Canelo and now I have to push myself and be focused and forget about Canelo and think about only Zurdo and I try to be focused,” Bivol said. “I try to be in my best shape against Zurdo. I understand I have to be focused for every fight. I try and I hope I will.”

In Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs), 31, a southpaw from Mexico, Bivol faces a far different style of fighter than Alvarez. Ramirez is a southpaw, he is taller and has a much longer reach than Alvarez.

“They’re really two different fighters except that they are both Mexican,” Bivol joked. “I think Zurdo will push more and try to use his size and try to punch my body more than Canelo, maybe. He has longer arms than Canelo.”

Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs), 31, of Russia, appears to have lived up to his words about putting the win over Alvarez behind him and focusing solely on Ramirez.

He arrived in Abu Dhabi on Sept. 27, more than a month before the fight, in order to complete his training camp and to make sure he acclimated to the time change and weather.

“Abu Dhabi feels like home,” Kornilov said. “Everything that has been done for us, we don’t want to leave. It’s been very welcoming. It’s a pleasure being here and having camp here. Everything ran very smoothly, and I appreciate that very much.

“This fight has been cooking up some time. Back and forth conversations and talk and press. This Saturday night hopefully the fireworks will come for Abu Dhabi and everybody involved. I really hope it will be an exciting fight.”

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Bivol, who besides Alvarez has defeated other notable opponents such as Joe Smith Jr., Jean Pascal and Sullivan Barrera, also said he hopes the fight with Ramirez will be crowd-pleasing and that he will rack up yet another successful title defense before looking to a potential rematch with Alvarez next year.

“I really had a big dream to win this belt and I don’t want to leave it,” Bivol said. “I will fight for this and I want to keep it. I want more. I feel I have something inside of me which I need to realize so I can be happy at the end of my career.

“I believe it will be an exciting fight. When people tell me that I have achieved everything it’s like they pour water on my fire. I try to only think about my dream, to realize my full potential. I try to be hungry and angry every time and be focused on training and my opponents. I try to think about how this Saturday night will be the hardest fight of my career. It makes me more focused on the night.”

There are also two other world title bouts on the card:

In the co-feature, the undisputed women’s junior welterweight title will be up for grabs. WBC/IBF titlist Chantelle Cameron (16-0, 8 KOs), 31, of England, will defend those belts against undisputed welterweight champion Jessica McCaskill with the vacant WBO and WBA 140-pound titles also at stake. McCaskill (12-2, 5 KOs), 37, of Chicago, a former unified WBC/WBA junior welterweight titlist, is moving down in weight looking to become a two-division undisputed champion.
Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov (16-0-1, 13 KOs), 28, a southpaw from Tajikistan, and Zelfa Barrett (28-1, 16 KOs), 29, of England, will fight for the vacant IBF junior lightweight title stripped from the injured Joe Cordina, who was unable to make a due mandatory defense against Rakhimov.

BetUS Boxing Show

If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked three fights scheduled on Saturday: Dmitry Bivol’s light heavyweight title defense against Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez; the Chantelle Cameron-Jessica McCaskill undisputed women’s junior welterweight title bout in the Bivol-Ramirez co-feature; and David Morrell’s mandatory defense of his secondary super middleweight title versus Aidos Yerbossynuly. We also took viewer questions and comments on a packed show! Watch our show here:

WBO makes moves

The WBO on Friday followed up with a pair of orders related to the flyweight and junior bantamweight divisions, both of which were expected following its recently completed annual convention.

At flyweight, it ordered Cristian Gonzalez (15-1, 5 KOs), 23, of Mexico, and Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (17-0, 11 KOs), 22, of San Antonio, who recently vacated the WBC junior bantamweight title to move down in weight, to fight for the vacant WBO flyweight title. It sent an email notification to Gonzalez promoter Tuto Zabala of All Star Boxing and Rodriguez promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing ordering them to begin negotiations.

They have 10 days to make a deal or a purse bid will be ordered. If it goes to a purse bid the minimum offer is $80,000, although it would likely go for much more. If either side does not want to negotiate they can ask for an immediate purse bid.

The flyweight title became vacant when Junto Nakatani relinquished it to move up in weight. He debuted at junior bantamweight on Tuesday and handily outpointed former strawweight titlist Francisco Rodriguez Jr. on the undercard of the Kenshiro Teraji-Hiroto Kyoguchi junior flyweight title unification fight.

At junior bantamweight, the WBO formally agreed to sanction the fight between WBO titlist Kazuto Ioka (29-2, 15 KOs), 33, of Japan, a four-division titlist, and WBA titleholder Joshua Franco (18-1-2, 8 KOs), 27, of San Antonio, who are scheduled to meet in a unification fight on Dec. 31 in Tokyo.

As part of the agreement to sanction the fight, the WBO said that the winner of the bout will have 180 days to face Nakatani (24-0, 18 KOs), 24, of Japan, the mandatory challenger, and both fighters signed a document saying they will honor that order.

Quick hits

Weights from Minneapolis for the PBC card on Showtime on Saturday (9:10 p.m. ET): David Morrell 166.5 pounds, Aidos Yerbossynuly 167.25 (for Morrell’s WBA “regular” super middleweight title); Jeison Rosario 160, Brian Mendoza 159.25; Fiodor Czerkaszyn 158.75, Nathaniel Gallimore 158.5; Andre Dirrell 174, Yunieski Gonzalez 174; Julian Williams 159.5, Rolando Mansilla 158; Kent Cruz 143, Enriko Gogokhia 141.5.

Weights from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates for the Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN on Saturday (1:30 p.m. ET): Dmitry Bivol 174.7 pounds, Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez 174.6 (for Bivol’s WBA light heavyweight title); Chantelle Cameron 139.6, Jessica McCaskill 139.3 (for the undisputed women’s junior welterweight title); Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov 130, Zelfa Barrett 130 (for vacant IBF junior lightweight title); Galal Yafai 111.8, Gohan Rodriguez 110.9; Kal Yafai 120.6, Jerald Paclar 117.5; Campbell Hatton 139.3, Denis Bartos 137.6.

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O’Shaquie Foster, the WBC junior lightweight mandatory challenger, and WBC featherweight titlist Rey Vargas, who were ordered last month to fight for the vacant 130-pound title, have reached an agreement, Richard Schaefer of Probellum, Foster’s promoter, told Fight Freaks Unite. There is no set date or site yet for the bout, but it will take place in early 2023, likely on a card put on by PBC, which works with Vargas. The title became vacant when Shakur Stevenson was stripped of the WBC and WBO belts for missing weight for a Sept. 23 defense versus Robson Conceicao. Vargas (36-0, 22 KOs), 31, of Mexico, petitioned the WBC to fight for the vacant title and it was granted. He will be seeking a title in a third division. Foster (19-2, 11 KOs), 29, of Houston, won a lopsided decision over Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov in a WBC title eliminator in his most recent fight in March in Dubai.

Junior middleweight prospect Callum Walsh (5-0, 4 KOs), 21, an Ireland native based in Los Angeles, knocked out Delen Parsley (13-2, 4 KOs), 34, of Brooklyn, New York, in the third round of a scheduled eight-rounder in the main event of the 360 Promotions “Hollywood Fight Night” card on UFC Fight Pass on Thursday night at Quiet Cannon Country Club in Montebello, California. Walsh dropped Parsley in each round. “My last fight made me realize I hate going the distance,” Walsh said. “I’m here to knock people out and to entertain the people.” Also, L.A.-based Ukrainian junior middleweight Serhii Bohachuk (21-1, 21 KOs), 27, stopped Aaron Coley (16-5-1, 7 KOs), 32, of Patterson, California, in the second round of a scheduled 10-rounder.

Show and tell

George Foreman was 45 years old and coming off a loss to Tommy Morrison 17 months earlier, but he was a star and convinced HBO to green light a fight with new heavyweight champion Michael Moorer, who outpointed Evander Holyfield seven months earlier to win the title. Making his first defense, Moorer was the betting favorite when he met Foreman at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, but Foreman was the heavy favorite of the crowd, which turned out to see if he could pull the big upset. For virtually the entire fight it looked like Foreman would have no chance. Moorer thoroughly dominated — that is until, as legendary HBO broadcaster Jim Lampley exclaimed in perhaps the most memorable call of his Hall of Fame career: “It happened! It happened!” What had happened was that Moorer ignored instructions from trainer Teddy Atlas and, for some reason, went and stood right in front of the old, slow Foreman in the 10th round and got laid out with a single short — but extremely devastating — right hand on the chin that flattened him in the center of the ring.

Referee Joe Cortez counted Moorer out and Foreman, wearing the same trunks that he had worn when he lost the heavyweight championship to Muhammad Ali in the famed “Rumble in the Jungle” 20 years earlier, almost to the day, knelt in prayer in a neutral corner. Big George had shocked the world and become the oldest fighter to win a world title in boxing history (a record eventually broken by light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins) in a monumental upset. It was one of the most unforgettable moments in boxing history. The fight was on Nov. 5, 1994 — 28 years ago on Saturday. Here is a mint program from in my collection.