Gilberto Ramirez Vs. David Benavidez Breakdown

WBA and WBO Cruiserweight Champion Gilberto Ramirez boxes David Benavidez on Saturday, as we preview this fight. 

Since moving to cruiserweight, Ramirez has looked revitalized. He defeated Yuniel Dorticos in his last fight to retain his WBO and WBA belts. Ramirez’s only loss came against Dmitry Bivol after which he moved up to cruiserweight. As for Benavidez, he moves up from heavyweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">light heavyweight where he is the WBC champion. Benavidez stopped Anthony Yarde in his previous fight. A win over Ramirez makes him a three-weight world champion.

Pre-Fight

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“I don’t know if this fight is going the distance. But I’ll try to hurt him and try to win this fight. Whatever it takes. I’ve seen all of his fights because I like boxing and I watch big fights,” Ramirez continued. “He did a pretty good job; he’s been doing well … the day that we trained together, we knew that this time would come. Those sparring sessions were pay-per-view. Now is the right time and the right moment to put everything that we did and show the people real boxing,” Ramirez said

“My plan was [to] come up, grab two titles, come back down and make this fight with me and Bivol even bigger. “My dream is to become unified champion. “It’s smart for me to come back down,” Benavidez stated

The Approach

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For Ramirez, the tactical blueprint will center on controlling the range and exploiting his natural size advantage. Ramirez at cruiserweight has become much more adept at using his long southpaw jab to dictate the distance. He will likely focus on a sustained body attack early on to take the steam out of Benavidez’s late-round surges. By staying on the outside and using lateral movement, Ramirez can prevent Benavidez from getting set to throw his flurries.

Benavidez’s strategy will revolve around closing the gap and forcing a war. His greatest tactical asset is his hand speed in combinations, which often overwhelms opponents who try to trade with him. Moving up to cruiserweight, Benavidez will aim to test Ramirez’s chin early by cutting off the ring and trapping the champion against the ropes.

Full Card

Credit: The Ring

David Benavidez vs. Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez ; Cruiserweight, for the WBA and WBO titles

Jose Resendiz vs. Jaime Munguia ; middleweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">Super-middleweight, for the WBA title

Oscar Duarte vs. Angel Barrera ; lightweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">Super-lightweight

Isaac Lucero vs. Alan Gutierrez ; welterweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">Super-welterweight

Jorge Chavez vs. Tito Sanchez ; bantamweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">Super-bantamweight

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