Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez does not have any intention of becoming the second straight high-profile Mexican boxer to come up short in a light heavyweight fight with title fight implications.

Nothing has been left to chance by the unbeaten former WBO super middleweight titlist from Mazatlan, Mexico ahead of his WBA light heavyweight title eliminator with Germany’s Dominic Boesel (32-2, 12KOs). A mandatory title shot with current WBA titlist Dmitry Bivol (20-0, 10KOs) is at stake in their scheduled twelve-round main event on DAZN from Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.

“He is a difficult fighter. He likes to come forward and is very physical,” Ramirez noted over Boesel. “There is a reason why he is the number-one for the WBA.”

With the hard work put in during training camp, however, comes the confidence of delivering a statement-making performance this weekend.  

“I feel like I have the better boxing style and am confident I will knock him out,” vows Ramirez. “It will be a hard fight. It won’t be easy in the ring for me. But I am confident.

“He has a similar style to Arthur Abraham. I know how to handle that style.”

Ramirez (43-0, 29KOs) scored a convincing twelve-round win over Germany’s Abraham to win the WBO super middleweight title in April 2016. Five successful defenses followed for Ramirez before vacating his title prior to beginning his light heavyweight run beginning with a fourth-round knockout of Tommy Karpency in April 2019.

Ramirez has scored knockouts in all four fights since moving up to light heavyweight, including a tenth-round stoppage of former title challenger Yunieski Gonzalez last December in San Antonio. The fight with Boesel represents his first versus a traditional European boxer since the start of his super middleweight title reign. Ramirez earned shutout wins over Abraham and Ukraine’s Max Bursak in back-to-back title fights in 2016, though recalls putting in the necessary work to turn tough fights into showcase performances.

“The European style is different. They are really strong and tough mentally,” notes Ramirez. “Arthur Abraham was very tough. This fight will be the same thing.:

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox