Photos by Porfirio Barron Jr./RBRBoxing
What if I were to tell you about a 23-year-old Mexican Super Middleweight southpaw with raw talent, good size, knockout power, looks, personality and an undefeated record? Would that be someone who you were interested in?
That someone is Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (30-0, 24 KOs) of Mexico, who will step onto the biggest stage of his career this Saturday night as the co-feature for Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado 3 from the 1stBank Center in Bloomfield, Colorado.
Ramirez will be taking on one-loss contender, Maxim Vlasov (30-1, 15 KOs) of Russia, who will be moving down from 175 to 168 pounds for this 10-round scheduled fight.
Ramirez is riding a streak of four knockout wins in a row. In July, he demolished Junior Talipeau in the second round on a card televised by HBO 2 that also featured Flyweights Brian Viloria and Zou Shiming.
He then headlined on HBO Latino against journeyman Fulgencio Zuniga in November. Ramirez let his skill shine in an impressive performance that ended in him stopping Zuniga in the eighth round.
There are still some questions surrounding Ramirez. Vlasov is his toughest task to date, but a win over the Russian would certainly keep his stock on the rise. Being a Mexican fighter coupled with the exposure he is receiving from Top Rank and HBO is a formula that could rapidly bolster his popularity.
There are a lot of opportunities for Ramirez at the Super Middleweight division, future possible matchups with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Carl Froch, Andre Ward, Arthur Abraham and George Groves would all make for very entertaining fights.
