By Edward Chaykovsky
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, who promotes WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (34-0, 24KOs), is confident his fighter is capable of beating WBA/WBC/IBO/IBF middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs).
Last week, Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum - who promotes Ramirez - advised BoxingScene.com that a deal has been agreed upon in principle for a fight with Golovkin in 2017.
Ramirez became the first Mexican fighter to capture a world title at 168-pounds after unseating longtime champion Arthur Abraham in April as part of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley undercard at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Ramirez will make his first defense against Dominik Britsch on July 23 at the MGM Grand as part of the HBO pay-per-view undercard to the Terence Crawford-Viktor Postol unification. Golovkin's handlers are in talks to face British champion Chris Eubank Jr., possibly on August 27th in the UK.
With the recent retirement of eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao, Arum is looking to create his next pay-per-view star. He feels Ramirez has the attributes and the necessary charisma - but he needs that big marquee win, and that's where a fight with Golovkin comes in.
If Arum finalizes the fight, and Ramirez wins, the veteran promoter has doubt about the Mexican fighter's ability to become the next superstar of pay-per-view.
“I have great confidence in Zurdo, and while I think Golovkin is an excellent fighter, I believe my guy beats him,” Arum said to Yahoo Sports. “If he does, that catapults him into a big pay-per-view star. If you look at the boxing business today, except in England, it totally sucks. Unless you can make a guy a pay-per-view star, you’re just grinding wheels. You lose money here and maybe make a little money here, but the only way this business works any more is for a guy to be a pay-per-view star.
“So a guy like Zurdo, who has the capability and the personality and the ability to be a pay-per-view star, you have to take the shot. And the way to do that is to have him fight Golovkin and win it. He’s got the charisma and he’s a real good-looking kid … and he’s learning to speak English. He’s got it all, but it’s a matter of putting it together and coming through with a win over a guy like Golovkin.”
