By Ryan Burton
Two of the brightest up and coming stars in Top Rank's deep stable of fighters are unbeaten WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez (34-0, 24KOs) and undefeated lightweight contender Felix "Diamante" Verdejo (22-0, 15KOs) - who have both been on the shelf with injuries.
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum recently spoke to BoxingScene.com to give us an update on both fighters.
Ramirez, who is from Sinaloa, Mexico, was supposed to return to the ring in July as part of the Terence Crawford vs. Viktor Postol pay-per-view undercard but instead underwent surgery to repair ligaments in his right hand. Arum said that he should return to the ring in the next few months.
"Gilberto had a hand problem and went to Dr. Shin who is a big hand specialist. The hand has came along very well and it is possible he could have fought in December but just to be sure he has enough time to spar we are going to bring him back in a title fight probably at the end of January," Arum stated.
Verdejo, who is from Puerto Rico, suffered several abrasions when he fell off of his dirt bike which cancelled his return to the ring this Saturday on the Manny Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas pay-per-view undercard. Top Rank had hoped to match him up against WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan before the accident occurred. His timetable to return to the ring is running just behind that of Ramirez.
"Verdejo is back in training. It was a serious injury falling off that dirt bike. He promises that he won't get on bikes again. At least not the ones with motors in them. Hopefully he will be as good as ever if not better because he is a tremendous prospect," Arum told BoxingScene.com.
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