Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez weighed in at a whopping 182.6 lbs today for his fight against Gabe Rosado on Saturday, and the contest has now been canceled.
Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz and Mercito Gesta will move into the headliner for their lightweight clash. It’s a good fight, and it should be an entertaining fill-in replacement for the canceled Ramirez-Rosado clash.
What happened with the 30-year-old Gilberto Ramirez in getting down to 175? How could he be so far off? Ramirez (44-1, 30 KOs) wasn’t remotely close to the 175-lb weigh-in limit for his 12-round light heavyweight main event fight against Rosado (26-16-1, 15 KOs) on DAZN from the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California.
The former WBO super middleweight champion Ramirez had to have known well ahead that he would have problems making weight for the fight because he looked huge compared to Rosado when the two posed for a face-off during Thursday’s final press conference.
Rosado looked like he could have been Ramirez’s little brother, considering their outrageous size difference. As big as he is, Gilberto should have started his weight cut a lot sooner because there was no way that he was going to lose 10+ lbs during fight week. He’s too big.
Gabe Rosado says Zurdo Ramirez came in today at 187. Confirming what I was told earlier. Zurdo did attempt to come down more at 182.6. pic.twitter.com/47Z5QPI8nq
— FIGHT HUB MARCOS (@heyitsmarcosv) March 17, 2023
In Ramirez’s last two fights against Dmitry Bivol and Dominic Boesel, he looked like a small heavyweight inside the ring against them. It was hard to believe that he’d made the 175-lb limit for those fights.
For Rosado, this has got to be a big disappointment because he’s missing out on nice payday and an opportunity to potentially set himself up for other lucrative fights if he’d beaten Ramirez.
As bad as Ramirez looked in his loss to WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol last November in Abu Dhabi, there was a real possibility that Rosado would have won.
Should Gilberto Ramirez move up to cruiserweight?
It would be a good idea for Ramirez to move up to the cruiserweight division now unless Golden Boy wants to continue to take risks of him failing to make weight for future cards.
If you’re DAZN, you might be concerned if Golden Boy schedules Ramirez for future light heavyweight matches. Unless Ramirez is fighting at cruiserweight or heavyweight, DAZN should probably avoid putting him on future broadcasts.
This is not good for DAZN, as it’s important that they put on quality fights to keep the subscribers from continuing to jump ship in response to their recent massive subscription rate increases.
Zurdo Ramirez was unofficially 182.6 pounds today and Saturday's 175-pound fight vs. Gabe Rosado in Long Beach, California, has been cancelled, sources told ESPN. Former champion JoJo Diaz vs. Mercito Gesta is the new DAZN main event.
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) March 17, 2023