WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol defends his title against his mandatory Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez in their long-awaited fight next Saturday, November 5th, live on DAZN in Abu Dhabi. The main card is set to get underway at 1:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. GMT with the main event ring walks scheduled for 5 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. GMT. The card will stream live on DAZN in multiple countries across the globe (except Russia, South Korea and MENA regions).
Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) is ready to show that his recent victory six months ago last May against Canelo Alvarez was no fluke. He’ll be facing the cruiserweight-sized Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs) in the main event on the card.
Ramirez, 31, is a former WBO super middleweight champion, who has compiled an impressive record without ever fighting anyone of note during his 13-year professional career.
The biggest name on Zurdo’s resume is former middleweight champion Arthur Abraham, who was well past his prime and fighting outside of his natural weight class when the two tangled in 2016.
Other than Abraham, the next best name on Ramirez’s resume is Jesse Hart, a fighter that he twice squeaked by with narrow 12 round decision victories in 2017 and 2018.
Ramirez has been pushing for a fight against Bivol for a long time, and now he’s finally gotten the chance to face him.
If Ramirez loses, which is likely, he’ll need to think about moving up to cruiserweight because it’s got to be incredibly difficult to drain down to make the 175-lb limit.
In Ramirez’s last fight against Dominic Boesel last May, he rehydrated to 203 lbs. That’s an example of Ramirez’s size for the light heavyweight division.
Bivol has superior hand speed and mobility over the much slower Ramirez. As long as Bivol stays off the ropes, this should be an easy win for him. Ramirez is a plodder who leans forward when he fights, giving up his height and making him vulnerable to uppercuts.
“I think what we saw was a pound-for-pound great in Dmitry Bivol, who was just too good, too big, too strong, and maybe too good on the night for Canelo Alvarez,” said Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing, reflecting on WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol’s victory over Canelo Alvarez last May.
“I think if you look at the reaction of Dmitry Bivol after the fight, it says, ”This didn’t surprise me.’ Ice running through this man’s veins. I don’t think his pulse rate ever really changes. He’s ice-cold. He’s a dangerous man, and he’s ready for all comers,” said Hearn.
“I have good speed too, but people thought that Canelo had better speed than my speed, but my speed is good too,” said Bivol. ”
DMITRY BIVOL VS. “ZURDO” RAMIREZ FIGHT DATE, START TIME, CHANNEL
- Date: Saturday, November 5
- Time: 1:30 p.m. ET
- Main event ringwalks (approx):5 p.m. ET
- 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, click here to sign up