By Craig Page: Undefeated WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol and former 168-lb world champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez meet this Saturday night on November 5th in what is expected to be a fan-friendly fight on DAZN.
Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) put his name on the map last May by defeating arguably boxing’s biggest star Canelo Alvarez, winning a 12 round unanimous decision in a fight that appeared more one-sided than the scores given by the three judges.
Bivol will now be looking to beat one of the best light heavyweights in the division in 31-year-old ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, who has been fighting in the 175-lb division for the last three years since 2019 after vacating his WBO super middleweight title due to him outgrowing the division.
The Mexican native Ramirez now appears to be on the verge of outgrowing the 175-lb division as well, given that he rehydrated to over 200 lbs for his last fight against Dominic Boesel in May.
For Saturday’s fight against Bivol, Ramirez appears to have been working on dropping his weight with a lot of running. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be lighter after he rehydrates after Friday’s weigh-in.
Ramirez looks naturally like a cruiserweight at this point in his career, and it’s understandable why he’s dragging his feet about moving up to that weight class. It’s a dead division with no stars and very little fan interest.
The start time for the Bivol vs. Ramirez event is at 1:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT on November 5, live on DAZN. That’s when the event begins, but you can expect the Bivol – Ramirez to fight later after the preliminary fights.
DMITRY BIVOL VS. “ZURDO” RAMIREZ FIGHT DATE, START TIME, CHANNEL
- Date: Saturday, November 5
- Time: 1:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m GMT
- Main event ringwalks (approx):5 p.m. ET / 9 p.m. GMT
- The main card is set to get underway at 1:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. GMT with the main event ringwalks scheduled for 5 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. GMT.
- The card will stream live on DAZN
Ramirez has been waiting for the chance to challenge Bivol for his WBA title for ages, as his goal is to win two division world titles. Given how Zurdo Ramirez has looked in his last two fights, he’s got his work cut out for him.
Even if Ramirez does pull out the victory over Bivol, it’s going to take a monumental effort to defeat IBF, WBC & WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs), who looks unstoppable at this point in his career.
Beterbiev hits really hard, and as we’ve seen from Ramirez’s fights throughout his career, he’s not the hardest guy to hit.
Although Ramirez has looked good in his five fights since moving up to 175, his opposition hasn’t been all that impressive.
Zurdo Ramirez’s opposition at 175
- Dominic Boesel
- Sullivan Barrera – 39 years old
- Yunieski Gonzalez – 37
- Tommy Karpency – 36
- Alfonso Lopez – 40
BIVOL VS. RAMIREZ FIGHT CARD
- Dmitry Bivol vs. Gilberto Ramirez
- Chantelle Cameron vs. Jessica McCaskill
- Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov vs. Zelfa Barrett
- Galal Yafai vs. Gohan Rodriguez Garcia
- Khalid Yafai vs. Jerald Paclar
- Aqib Fiaz vs. Diego Valiterra
- Campbell Hatton vs. Denis Bartos
