Dmitry Bivol retained his WBA “super” belt at light heavyweight against mandatory challenger Gilberto Ramirez, who lost for the first time in 45 pro fights thanks to his superb ring generalship and masterful defensive skills.
Ramirez successfully forced a fast pace by averaging 73.2 punches per round to Bivol’s 53.6, but Bivol won by keeping the fight at ring center and forcing Ramirez to fight the jab-heavy fight he prefers. The proof: Jabs comprised 63.8% of Bivol’s total output, similar to the 71.4% rate in his last five, but they also made up 63.3% of Ramirez’s output compared to 40.1% in his last five.
Thus, Bivol achieved the room needed to control range with his jab (34.2 attempts/5.3 connects per round to Ramirez’s 46.3/3.2) and limit Ramirez’s accuracy to 12% overall, 7% jabs and 21% power, far below the 31%, 18% and 39% figures he achieved in his last five. Meanwhile, Bivol landed 20% overall, 16% jabs and 29% power, resulting in connect leads of 131-107 overall and 64-38 jabs, negating “Zurdo’s” narrow 69-67 lead in power connects.
Ramirez did land often to the body (he led 63-24 in connects), but Bivol’s command of distance prevented Ramirez from launching a sustained body attack. Bivol ended the fight ahead 8-4 in the CompuBox round-by-round breakdown of total connects, but Ramirez landed 10 or more total punches in five of the 12 rounds. Scoring: 118-110, 117-111 (2x).