Notebook: Zurdo aims for early KO in effort to keep pressure on Bivol to fight him
Exclusive De La Hoya interview; FITE in Focus appearance; Canelo among highest paid athletes in world; Acosta scores knockout; Quick hits; Show and tell
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When light heavyweight contender Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez knocked out Yunieski Gonzalez in the 11th round of an exciting title eliminator in December he became the mandatory challenger for WBA titlist Dmitry Bivol.
Ramirez and his team at Golden Boy tried to make the fight with Bivol both before Ramirez faced Gonzalez and again after he won. But they were rebuffed. Bivol and his team thought they had had a chance to land a mega fight with Canelo Alvarez and did — and Bivol upset Ramirez’s Mexican countryman Alvarez by decision last Saturday.
But Ramirez isn’t about to sit around waiting for his title shot, especially now that there’s a chance Alvarez will opt for his right to an immediate rematch. If he does that would further delay Ramirez’s chance to face Bivol.
So, Ramirez returns to action to fight former interim titlist Dominic Boesel in what is also officially a WBA title eliminator on Saturday (DAZN, 9 p.m. ET) at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.
Ramirez (43-0, 29 KOs), a 30-year-old southpaw from Mexico, remains hopeful that with a win over Boesel he will get the chance to challenge Bivol for his title. He said he would so with a bit of added motivation.
“I think Bivol was just too much for Canelo,” Ramirez said this week. “I am a little sad as a Mexican boxing fan. In a way I do have to get revenge since I represent Mexico as well.”
Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya not only wants to see Ramirez get a title shot but for him to keep winning so he can match the 50-0 career mark that Floyd Mayweather retired with.
“I saw a lot of potential in Zurdo and that’s why I signed him once he became a free agent,” De La Hoya said. “The vision is to beat Mayweather's record. There are a lot of fights and opportunities for him. It's just a matter of positioning Zurdo and forcing fighters to fight him.”
Ramirez likes the idea of trying to match Mayweather’s mark, even though it is not any sort of all-time record, as attractive as it is.
“I am knocking on the door of a title fight, and staying busy is best,” Ramirez said. “I also want to stay busy to break Mayweather’s record. Eventually, the big fights will happen. It’s just taking time.”
He hopes for an impressive performance against Boesel (32-2, 12 KOs), 32, of Germany, to continue to force the issue.
“I am looking for an early knockout,” Ramirez said. “I have to knock out other fighters and put on a good show to get the big fights and get a chance at the champions. I have to knock out all these guys to show that I am ready for big challenges and big opportunities. We are looking for the big fights. I have to go through some fighters first. I know the fights are going to happen. Everyone is busy with other fights, but I know these fights will happen this year.”
In the co-feature, exciting Mexican lightweight William Zepeda (25-0, 23 KOs), a 25-year-old southpaw, will defend his regional belt against former junior lightweight titlist Rene Alvarado (32-11, 21 KOs), 33, of Nicaragua, in a 10-round bout.
Exclusive De La Hoya interview
The Big Fight Weekend Friday preview podcast is now available and loaded. We preview this weekend’s cards — the Jermell Charlo-Brian Castano rematch for the undisputed junior middleweight title, light heavyweight contender Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez against Dominic Boesel, Sergey Kovalev’s return as a cruiserweight against Tervel Pulev and Floyd Mayweather’s exhibition against Don Moore. Also, there is my interview with Oscar De La Hoya on the WBC ordering Ryan Garcia to meet Isaac Cruz in a final lightweight eliminator — Oscar said they are fine with the 50-50 split the WBC mandated — his thoughts on the Ramirez-Boesel card he is promoting, and on Canelo Alvarez’s loss to Dmitry Bivol and how he would never have allowed the fight to happen if he was still promoting Canelo. Make sure to like, subscribe and listen to it here:
FITE in Focus
FITE.tv is a digital partner for two pay-per-view cards it will stream on Saturday, one headlined by the Floyd Mayweather-Don Moore exhibition from Dubai (2 p.m. ET) and the Sergey Kovalev-Tervel Pulev show from Inglewood, California (9 p.m. ET). I participated in the FITE In Focus show that previewed both cards. Check it out here:
Canelo earns $89 million
Sports business publication Sportico released its list this week of the 100 top paid athletes in the world for the time period between June 2021 and May 2022 and undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, the biggest star in boxing, ranked fifth.
According to Sportico, Alvarez earned $89 million with $84 million coming from his purses and another $5 million from endorsements. Alvarez earned that money from two fights in the time frame measured, his knockout of Caleb Plant to become undisputed 168-pound champion in November and last week’s upset loss challenging light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol.
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James topped the list with $126.9 million in earnings ($36.9 million from his NBA contract and $90 million in endorsements).
Between James and Alvarez were three soccer players: Lionel Messi ($122 million), Cristiano Ronaldo ($115 million) and Neymar ($103 million).
There were two other boxers in the top 100. Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury checked in at No. 14 with earning of $69 million ($63 million from purses, $6 from endorsements) and Jake Paul at No. 45 with $37 million ($30 million in purses, $7 million in endorsements).
There was one other combat sports athlete on the list, UFC star Conor McGregor, who was No. 22 with $52 million in earnings ($32 million in purses, $20 million in endorsements).
Acosta drills Rivera
Former WBO junior flyweight titleholder Angel “Tito” Acosta (23-3, 22 KOs), 31, needed just 79 seconds to wipe out good pal and fellow Puerto Rican Janiel Rivera (18-9-3, 11 KOs), 30, in the main event of the “Golden Boy Fight Night” card on DAZN on Thursday night at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California.
Acosta, who was in his second fight with Joel Diaz as his head trainer, rebounded from a fourth-round knockout loss challenging Junto Nakatani for his WBO flyweight title in September in Tucson, Arizona.
He went right at Rivera, landing 26 of 39 power shots, according to CompuBox, and forcing referee Raul Caiz Jr. to step in with Rivera defenseless and taking punishment on the ropes.
“We knew Janiel was going to be a strong fighter and I didn’t want to under prepare for this fight,” Acosta said through an interpreter. “I saw an opportunity to end the fight early and I took it. I had a great camp with Joel Diaz and I feel he got me ready for this. Naturally, we trained to go the distance, but fortunately we ended it early and got a great victory.”
Rivera lost his sixth fight in a row.
Acosta now hopes to land another shot at a flyweight world title.
“I still want to become champion,” Acosta said through an interpreter. “I want to fight the winner of Julio Cesar Martinez and McWilliams Arroyo.”
WBC flyweight titlist Martinez and interim titlist Arroyo meet in a mandated rematch on June 25 (DAZN) in San Antonio.
Quick hits
Minneapolis-based Cuban southpaw David Morrell (6-0, 5 KOs), 24, the WBA “regular” super middleweight titlist, defends his belt for the third time versus Kalvin Henderson (15-1-1, 11 KOs) on June 4 (Showtime) in Minneapolis, but he really wants to face former two-time titlist David Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs), who faces ex-middleweight titlist David Lemieux in an interim title bout May 21. “I look at someone like David Benavidez, who claims to be avoided, but you never here him mention my name,” Morrell said. “He speaks as though he’s the boogeyman of the division. Well, fight me and let’s find out. He’s chasing a fight with Canelo, but I know I'll give him a beat down that he'll never forget. Benavidez is a great puncher with a lot of heart, and he’s a warrior, I’ll give him that. But he doesn’t have the skills that I possess. I’ll fight David Benavidez anytime, anywhere, but will he fight me? That is the question the fans want to know, myself included. Now the world knows who I want most. Let’s see who the real boogeyman is. Come to papa, David. Boo!”
Zanfer Promotions announced that former junior flyweight world titleholders Elwin Soto (19-2, 13 KOs), 25, of Mexico, and Hekkie Budler (33-4, 10 KOs), 33, of South Africa, will meet on June 25 in Soto’s hometown of Mexicali. Soto lost his 108-pound belt by split decision to Jonathan Gonzalez in his last fight in October 2021 in Fresno, California. Budler, a former unified titlist, lost his belt by 10th-round knockout to Hiroto Kyoguchi in December 2018 and has boxed just once since, a 12-round decision win over novice Jonathan Almacen in May 2021.
Show and tell
The all-time great Roy Jones Jr. essentially was untouchable for the first 14-plus years of his career while winning titles at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. The lone blemish was a disqualification loss to Montell Griffin — in a fight Jones was winning — that he avenged with a resounding first-round knockout in an immediate rematch. It wasn’t until Jones met amateur rival Antonio Tarver for the first time that he actually struggled in a fight. Jones had shed more than 20 pounds of muscle after beating John Ruiz for a heavyweight title to return to light heavyweight to face Tarver and was obviously drained. Still, Jones pulled out a legitimate majority decision in a light heavyweight unification fight. He gave Tarver an immediate rematch and Jones’ remarkable decade-long reign as the dominating pound-for-pound king came to a shocking and violent conclusion.
Tarver meant business from the beginning of their HBO PPV fight when, in one of the greatest lines of trash talk ever, he mocked Jones’ weight-loss rationale for struggling in their first fight when referee Jay Nady asked the fighters if they had any questions during the center-ring pre-fight instructions and Tarver piped up, “I got a question. You got any excuses tonight, Roy?”
After Jones won the first round on all three scorecards, Tarver blasted him with an overhand left he never saw during an exchange and dropped him hard. As Jones struggled to his feet, he was out of it and stumbled across the ring, forcing Nady to wave it off for the knockout of the year and of the most shocking KOs in boxing history. Jones was never the same. It was the first of three straight losses, including a severe knockout to Glen Johnson and a clear decision to Tarver in their rubber match, during his long fade from the top. Jones-Tarver II was on May 15, 2004 — 18 years ago on Sunday. Here is an extremely rare site poster — a duratran — that hung in a light box at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas during fight week in my collection.
Ramirez photo: Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy; Acosta-Rivera photo: Lizette Dos Santos/Golden Boy
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I’m enjoying that DAZN Golden Boy Fight Night Series. I feel bad for David Morrell. He just joined the PBC Sausage Party at 168. No one ever wants any, or gets any lol.
Jake Paul is not a boxer.