By Ryan Burton
On Tuesday it was announced that Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez (37-0) would defend his WBO super middleweight title against Roamer Alexis Angulo (23-0) of Colombia.
The fight will take place in Oklahoma City and will be televised by ESPN. Oklahoma resident Alex "El Cholo" Saucedo will face former title challenger Lenny Zuppavigna in the co-feature bout.
Shortly after the announcement BoxingScene.com caught up with Ramirez's trainer Jesus Zapari to get his take on the fight.
"It is a good fight. I have followed him for a while because before Zurdo became a champion, we were looking at him because he was already ranked and had a good record. He isn't well known but has a big punch and that is what makes him dangerous - more dangerous than all of the other opponents that Zurdo has fought because he has the power of a cruiserweight but Zurdo will be well prepared both physically and mentally," said Zapari.
"Zurdo wants to demonstrate that he is the best fighter in his division and that he wants the big fights. He is very hungry and nothing will stop him from accomplishing his dream of becoming one of the pound for pound best fighters and becoming a Mexican idol. Angulo is just the next stop on the road to greatness."
Zapari said that they have already began camp in in Mazatlan and will continue to use their recent formula of starting to train in Mexico and finishing their camp in the Los Angeles area. The camp will consist of 10 total weeks of training.
"We are doing three weeks of training here in Mazatlan working on his conditioning and then we will head to California. We want to make sure Zurdo is strong and in great condition before we head to the Los Angeles area to help prevent injuries. It is Zurdo's time to demonstrate why he is the best at 168 pounds and he must continue to win his fights convincingly to show that he deserves big fights," Zapari told BoxingScene.com.
Ramirez captured his title when he shut out Arthur Abraham in April, 2016. Hand surgery after the fight kept him out of the ring for a year. He has since defended his title three times, stopping Habib Ahmed in his most recent fight in February.
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