Oscar De La Hoya believes Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez will showcase a far more desperate — and hence winning — effort against Dmitry Bivol than his former client did against the Russian light heavyweight champion.

Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs), of Mexico, is set to take on Bivol, the WBA 175-pound titlist, this Saturday at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on DAZN.  

Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) is coming off a banner win, via unanimous decision, over Canelo Alvarez last May at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

De La Hoya, the head and founder of Golden Boy Promotions, which currently backs Ramirez and formerly backed Alvarez, believes the key difference between the two fighters is the fact that Ramirez won’t be complacent. Alvarez, De La Hoya argued, has been on top of the sport for so long that he was simply unable to slip the switch in his fight with Bivol. (De La Hoya and Alvarez parted ways a couple of years ago after an acrimonious promotional tiff).

De La Hoya, suffice to say, expects Ramirez to perform differently.

“I called that fight right from the start,” De La Hoya said of Canelo-Bivol in an interview with iD Boxing. “Canelo Alvarez is a small super middleweight, at most. Bivol is a big guy, a big light heavyweight at 175. So I strongly feel that if people are looking at the Canelo fight, and judging it and thinking that Zurdo Ramirez will be the same test or even easier than Canelo, they have another thing coming.

“I think that Zurdo Ramirez is a bigger fighter, a stronger fighter, he’s a southpaw, he’s hungrier. You got to take into consideration that Canelo was already on top. Canelo’s mindset was already a winner, Canelo’s mindset was already enjoying the fruits of his labor, he was already a super star. Guess what? Ramirez is on his way up, Ramirez is hungry. Ramirez is a fighter who wants to taste the glory. That’s going to be the difference right there.”