Bivol not interested in Ramirez rematch

Dmitry Bivol says he sees no point in giving Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez a rematch after beating him by a decisive 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night in Abu Dhabi.

Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) looked more impressive tonight against the previously unbeaten Ramirez (44-1, 30 KOs) than he had in his previous fight against Canelo Alvarez.

After the fight, Ramirez felt that he’d done enough to earn the victory, which is hard to believe given how one-sided the fight was.

The 6’4″ Zurdo Ramirez was the busier fighter, but he was missing many of his shots despite having the advantage in height & reach over Bivol.

The judges have Bivol winning by these scores:

• 117-111
• 117-111
• 118-110

Bivol admitted that he’s backed off in several rounds to allow Ramirez to expend energy by throwing punches, but it appeared to be only three rounds that he’d lost.

For Bivol’s next fight, he’s focused on facing either Canelo Alvarez or Artur Beterbiev. Whichever of the two is available in early 2023, that’ll likely be the next one for Bivol, NOT Ramirez.

“Why a rematch with Ramirez? I don’t need it. To be honest, I don’t want a rematch with Ramirez. Why?” said Bivol when asked after the fight if he would like to give Ramirez a rematch.

“He won every round,” said Eddie Hearn about Bivol. “He did, really. I know they gave him three.”

“Thank you, not every one,” said Bivol.

“You did. They gave consolation rounds,” said Hearn.

“Thank you, but it’s not an interesting fight,” said Bivol. “Do you want to see the fight against Ramirez again? Why?”

“He was [busier],” said Eddie Hearn when told that Ramirez was much bigger than Bivol tonight. “The problem is Dmitry Bivol’s speed is so good that when you go on the attack and get in position to throw, you look up, and he’s not there. He’s out of distance.

“I had Anthony Joshua next to me and Joshua Buatsi next to him, and they were saying the whole fight, they were saying, ‘Wow.'”

If Ramirez works his way into the mandatory spot again with the WBA, he could eventually be given a rematch with Bivol, but that’s going to take a long time.

Unless Ramirez beats a highly-ranked contender like Callum Smith, it could take him years before he gets another title shot.

“I just enjoyed in the ring; I just had fun, and I saw I got him sometimes, but it wasn’t too dangerous for him to stop the fight,” said Bivol when asked if he thought he could have knocked out Ramirez at some point.