Dmitry Bivol-Zurdo Ramirez Ready To Meet In Middle East

On Thursday afternoon in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E., unbeaten WBA light heavyweight champ Dmitry Bivol and unbeaten top challenger Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez met with the media the final time prior to their battle Saturday night in one the most anticipated title fights remaining this calendar year.

And, while both showed proper respect for the opponent, they both know that a convincing win in this fight is huge for their short term 2023,

Main event this Saturday 👊#BivolZurdo live on @DAZNBoxing pic.twitter.com/ueMzuqR5gf

— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) November 3, 2022

Saturday night’s 12-round clash will take place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and will be broadcast live worldwide on DAZN.

Bivol 20-0, 11 KOs, is still riding high off his 12 round decision win in May over future hall of famer Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas. That bout has got him in the conversation to potentially be fighter of the year, if he wins Saturday,

“I really had a big dream to win this belt and I don’t want to leave it. I will fight for this and I want to keep it. I want more. I feel I have something inside of me which I need to realize so I can be happy at the end of my career,” the champion Bivol told the media Thursday.

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“I’m looking forward to Saturday night. I believe it will be an exciting fight. Abu Dhabi will make more boxing fights and maybe boxing will be the main sport in Abu Dhabi. 

When people tell me that I have achieved everything it’s like they pour water on my fire. I try to only think about my dream, to realize my full potential. I try to be hungry and angry every time and be focused on training and my opponents. I try to think about how this Saturday night will be the hardest fight of my career. It makes me more focused on the night.”

Ramirez has title experience

As for the unbeaten, former WBC Super Middleweight champ Ramirez, he’s 44-0, 30 KOs, and while he respects the Russian, he also believes that his biggest win to date is coming,

“I really believe that I can become a two-time World Champion on Saturday. I want to say thank you to Oscar (De La Hoya) and to everyone for being here. To my team and all of the press and media – thank you. I’d like to thank Dmitry and his team for making the fight happen.

“It’s exciting for me to come from Mexico and be here in Abu Dhabi. It’s the same weather, I feel like I’m at home. I’ve been training hard for this fight and I will take the belt this Saturday that’s for sure. 44 tried, 44 fell. 

“Right now I just see it as becoming a two-time World Champion, I don’t see it like me becoming a boxing star. My goal is to become a two-time World Champion, continue to build my legacy and eventually to become a legend. That’s my goal. I want to do that for all of my fans out there.”

Bivol-Ramirez headlines with England’s Chantelle Cameron meeting American Jessica McCaskill for Cameron’s WBC/IBF women’s junior welterweight titles in the co-feature. Also, on the main card, Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov of Tajikistan meets Zelfa Barrett of Manchester, England for the vacant IBF junior lightweight title.