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Gilberto Ramirez feels that a showdown between him and superstar countryman Canelo Alvarez will be inevitable once he wins a title–or a few–at light heavyweight.
The former super middleweight titleholder and current light heavyweight contender recently signed with Golden Boy Promotions after spending the past several years embroiled in promotional issues.
But Ramirez, 30, hopes to move past all that when he headlines a Golden Boy card on July 9 against Cuban veteran Sullivan Barrera (22-3, 14 KOs) at the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles on DAZN.
With his career seemingly entering the last stages of his prime, the southpaw Ramirez (41-0, 26 KOs) is already salivating at the thought of taking on Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs) in what would be a high profile event between two of Mexico’s top fighters. So long as Ramirez is able to pick up a belt at light heavyweight, he thinks he will be able to entice Alvarez, who is the current owner of three 168-pound belts, to come back up to 175 for what figures to be a lucrative and commercially viable matchup. Alvarez, of course, won the WBO light heavyweight title when he stopped Sergey Kovalev in 2019; he would later vacate the belt in order to focus on unifying the 168-pound division.
“[The fight] could happen if [Alvarez] moves up to light heavyweight,” Ramirez said on the SiriusXM radio show At The Fights. “He did [fight at light heavyweight] already with Sergey Kovalev. And if he says he wants to do it, and as soon as I [become] a champion and undisputed, that fight will happen. He will try to look for me.
“A meeting between [two] Mexicans, it’s a war, guaranteed. Canelo is the greater fighter right now. The face of boxing. But eventually ‘Zurdo Ramirez’ will [take that spot].”
As if an Alvarez fight was not enough to contemplate for his future, Ramirez has designs of pursuing a run at cruiserweight and, eventually, heavyweight.
“That’s the idea, to move to cruiserweight and heavyweight, why not?” said Ramirez. “I’m big. I’m the same height as those guys. Why not? To be a champion in five divisions.”
Crazy talk? Considering that Ramirez is 6’2”, he may have a point. Plus, he says he routinely fights bigger men than himself in the gym.
“Not only light heavyweights I’ve been sparring,” Ramirez continued, “cruiserweights and heavyweights, too. I feel comfortable. I’m 190 [pounds] now…this is my natural weight. It was hard for me to make 168 the last two fights. That’s why I chose to move up.”