GILBERTO RAMIREZ WANTS WBSS TOURNEY WINNER NEXT...

[Best Coast]

I'd say Ramirez stands an excellent chance to beat the WBSS winner.

http://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/2 ... tournament

For super middleweight world titleholder Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez there is good news and there is bad.

The good is that, with Badou Jack vacating his belt and moving up in weight and with James DeGale suffering a recent title loss, most view Ramirez as the top 168-pound boxer in the world, and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told ESPN that Ramirez could fight as many as four times this year.

The bad news is that many of the biggest potential fights in the division have not been available to Ramirez while the eight-man World Boxing Super Series tournament plays out. The tournament semifinals begin next week and the finals will take place in May.

[jamamb]

he doesnt impress me but then again maybe the wbss winner wont ether

[KiwiRider]

Gilbert talks the talk, but look at his post title history... A lot of good guys in the division not on his resume.

[HyacinthusTurnipseed]

In an ideal world Ramirez would fight Benavidez (assuming he wins on the 17th) around the same time as the WBSS final and the winners of both would face off but that seems unlikely.

Not a big fan of Ramirez either but he's as good a shout as anyone for divisional #1.

[Mexi-Box]

Gilbert talks the talk, but look at his post title history... A lot of good guys in the division not on his resume.

Jesse Hart is a good name. At the very least, it's a better name than Jamie Cox who Groves fought. I'd also argue he's better than Chudinov who never really impressed me.

[Best Coast]

Gilbert talks the talk, but look at his post title history... A lot of good guys in the division not on his resume.

Jesse Hart is a good name. At the very least, it's a better name than Jamie Cox who Groves fought. I'd also argue he's better than Chudinov who never really impressed me.

WBSS at Cruiserweight was world-class, cream-of-the-crop but the Super Middle tourney clearly had a European bias with scrubs like Cox & Yildirim included.

[Mexi-Box]

Gilbert talks the talk, but look at his post title history... A lot of good guys in the division not on his resume.

Jesse Hart is a good name. At the very least, it's a better name than Jamie Cox who Groves fought. I'd also argue he's better than Chudinov who never really impressed me.

WBSS at Cruiserweight was world-class, cream-of-the-crop but the Super Middle tourney clearly had a European bias with scrubs like Cox & Yildirim included.

Exactly! I'm just hating people talking about the SMW tourney like it's the end-all-be-all. The make up, besides Groves, was just a bunch of prospects or nobodies.

Ramirez, Benavidez, Dirrells, and Uzcategui aren't in the tournament. Anthony Dirrell's win over Truax just grew to be that much bigger.

[KiwiRider]

Gilbert talks the talk, but look at his post title history... A lot of good guys in the division not on his resume.

Jesse Hart is a good name. At the very least, it's a better name than Jamie Cox who Groves fought. I'd also argue he's better than Chudinov who never really impressed me.

WBSS at Cruiserweight was world-class, cream-of-the-crop but the Super Middle tourney clearly had a European bias with scrubs like Cox & Yildirim included.

Everybody was asked. Belts on offer once Groves and Eubank signed, plus a trophy, plus the biggest payday of their careers

[Best Coast]

Jesse Hart is a good name. At the very least, it's a better name than Jamie Cox who Groves fought. I'd also argue he's better than Chudinov who never really impressed me.

WBSS at Cruiserweight was world-class, cream-of-the-crop but the Super Middle tourney clearly had a European bias with scrubs like Cox & Yildirim included.

Exactly! I'm just hating people talking about the SMW tourney like it's the end-all-be-all. The make up, besides Groves, was just a bunch of prospects or nobodies.

Ramirez, Benavidez, Dirrells, and Uzcategui aren't in the tournament. Anthony Dirrell's win over Truax just grew to be that much bigger.

WE clearly agree on this one.

[Best Coast]

Jesse Hart is a good name. At the very least, it's a better name than Jamie Cox who Groves fought. I'd also argue he's better than Chudinov who never really impressed me.

WBSS at Cruiserweight was world-class, cream-of-the-crop but the Super Middle tourney clearly had a European bias with scrubs like Cox & Yildirim included.

Everybody was asked. Belts on offer once Groves and Eubank signed, plus a trophy, plus the biggest payday of their careers

Wrong. Jesse Hart was NOT asked & is a far cry better than sorry Cox or even Yildirim!!

[diddy]

This Zurdo vs Ahmed fight is horrid matchmaking. This guy looks like a 154 lb fighter against a cruiserweight.

[diddy]

Hart and Ramirez need to fight again. What a great fight that was.

[gilgamesh]

Hart and Ramirez need to fight again. What a great fight that was.

Hart is still his #1 contender according to the WBO, and the WBSS won't be over for at least another 8 or 9 months. Rematch with Hart seems like as good a plan as any.

[jamamb]

benavdezs probably the guy mentoned that has least convinced me. dudes in discsson for the top smw spot based on beating a gatekeeper and having a tough win over ronny gavril- who hes rematchng. and troublng degale as medna did doesnt seem so impressive now. daves done nothng besides medina and ronny. hes been sloppy more than hes been as he dd vs medna. dudes very young and maybe a few years from now he can be the man but to me he has the most to do

zurdos good and throws really technically nice combos although he doesnt show enough fre sometmes and that leads to guys such as bursa lasting. ths was the frst stoppage for a while

anthony very athletc although can be a bt lazy too.

harts good and certanly better than guys such as cox and brant- but imo hes below top tier

all would be good matches for the super series finalists. obvously theres more after the tournament that needs to happen for there to be a 'man' at 168. the tournament left out too many guys to be conclusive but there are also good enough guys in the tournament that we cant have a man till its over and they can fght the others

[Enlightened-One]

Gilbert talks the talk, but look at his post title history... A lot of good guys in the division not on his resume.

Jesse Hart is a good name. At the very least, it's a better name than Jamie Cox who Groves fought. I'd also argue he's better than Chudinov who never really impressed me.

WBSS at Cruiserweight was world-class, cream-of-the-crop but the Super Middle tourney clearly had a European bias with scrubs like Cox & Yildirim included.

Didn't Ramirez, Benavidez and the Dirrells get invited to the tournament?

If you look at The Ring ratings, most of the big names are in the WBSS.

[apollo creed]

Ramirez vs WBSS's winner would be ideal but I have the feeling he would take an easy route and fight the IBF smw champion.

[gilgamesh]

Ramirez vs WBSS's winner would be ideal but I have the feeling he would take an easy route and fight the IBF smw champion.

He'd still have time to do that before the conclusion of the Tournament.

[Deleted_Scenes]

WBSS at Cruiserweight was world-class, cream-of-the-crop but the Super Middle tourney clearly had a European bias with scrubs like Cox & Yildirim included.

Everybody was asked. Belts on offer once Groves and Eubank signed, plus a trophy, plus the biggest payday of their careers

Wrong. Jesse Hart was NOT asked & is a far cry better than sorry Cox or even Yildirim!!

Maybe Hart wasn't asked, but the others definitely were. Cox, Yildirim and Brant wouldn't have been there had Ramirez, either of the Dirrells and Benavidez signed up. It's a weak tournament at 168, because those US based fighters allowed it to be.

I get politics, but you can't really moan about Euro bias, when most of the US fighters refused the invite to the party...

[jamamb]

thats interesting, how many actually werent invited? i mean you cant blame the tournament promoters if the guys turned them down.

[KiwiRider]

Everybody was asked. Belts on offer once Groves and Eubank signed, plus a trophy, plus the biggest payday of their careers

Wrong. Jesse Hart was NOT asked & is a far cry better than sorry Cox or even Yildirim!!

Maybe Hart wasn't asked, but the others definitely were. Cox, Yildirim and Brant wouldn't have been there had Ramirez, either of the Dirrells and Benavidez signed up. It's a weak tournament at 168, because those US based fighters allowed it to be.

I get politics, but you can't really moan about Euro bias, when most of the US fighters refused the invite to the party...

100%
And Callum Smith walked away from a gaurenteed title shot against Dirrell because he knew it would be a d*ck around, and went for the WBSS instead. That takes guts, way more guts than all those guys who turned the series down.

[Deleted_Scenes]

Wrong. Jesse Hart was NOT asked & is a far cry better than sorry Cox or even Yildirim!!

Maybe Hart wasn't asked, but the others definitely were. Cox, Yildirim and Brant wouldn't have been there had Ramirez, either of the Dirrells and Benavidez signed up. It's a weak tournament at 168, because those US based fighters allowed it to be.

I get politics, but you can't really moan about Euro bias, when most of the US fighters refused the invite to the party...

100%
And Callum Smith walked away from a gaurenteed title shot against Dirrell because he knew it would be a d*ck around, and went for the WBSS instead. That takes guts, way more guts than all those guys who turned the series down.

Too many prima donnas wanting to just fight the winner for all the marbles, without having to put in the work along the way. Or in Anthony Dirrell's case, seeming like he just wanted a belt gifting to him without having to fight for it.

The one that surprised me was Lebedev, and he seems to be getting what he wants with the WBA's latest ruling. I know he's been in some wars, and I don't begrudge him one last payday with how much excitement he's given us over the years, but I thought he was more of an old school warrior who'd want to take on all comers.

I'll certainly be hoping the tournament winners hand a good beating to whoever gets gifted the shots right afterwards, especially if they've sat on their arses doing nothing in the meantime.

I suspect the WBA will order the 168 winner to fight Tyron Zeuge. Sauerland fighter, minor WBA beltholder, didn't want to be included... stinks of it.

[ElJefe]

Do people really think the WBSS would ask all of the top Cruisers in the world to join but randomly decide not to ask the top US based Super Middles? Much more likely that they just didn't fancy it.

[Deleted_Scenes]

Do people really think the WBSS would ask all of the top Cruisers in the world to join but randomly decide not to ask the top US based Super Middles? Much more likely that they just didn't fancy it.

Exactly.

Especially when Rob Brant, an American middleweight, moved up in weight and DID enter. He would hardly have been the name at the top of the list...

[Best Coast]

Everybody was asked. Belts on offer once Groves and Eubank signed, plus a trophy, plus the biggest payday of their careers

Wrong. Jesse Hart was NOT asked & is a far cry better than sorry Cox or even Yildirim!!

Maybe Hart wasn't asked, but the others definitely were. Cox, Yildirim and Brant wouldn't have been there had Ramirez, either of the Dirrells and Benavidez signed up. It's a weak tournament at 168, because those US based fighters allowed it to be.

I get politics, but you can't really moan about Euro bias, when most of the US fighters refused the invite to the party...

Ramirez WAS invited but Benavidez (and aforementioned Hart) was not. The Dirrells are well-documented snowflakes so their refused invitations are no surprise.

I will actually take it a step further and say there is not only a pro-Euro bias, but a pro-British bias at 168. You'll never convince me that putting a little-known British prospect like Zack Parker as a potential substitute was done for any reason other than to GUARANTEE at least one British fighter in the WBSS Super Middle Championship bout:

https://fightnetwork.com/news/6642611:z ... ournament/

Undefeated British super-middleweight Zach Parker (14-0, 10 KOs) has been confirmed as the reserve for the blockbuster World Boxing Super Series semi-final between domestic rivals George Groves and Chris Eubank Jr. on February 17 at the Manchester Arena.

Parker, who was recently announced as the mandatory challenger for Rocky Fielding’s British Super Middleweight title, will be on standby to enter the tournament in the unlikely scenario of one of the original participants being unable to continue.

It's NO coincidence that WBSS just happened to choose a Brit to fill in should one of the other Brits come up injured in training.

[jamamb]

so they just didnt invite hart and benavidez?

well i think theyd certainly be much better inclusions than the likes of cox and brant, and no worse than guys like kudryashov and and perez for the cruiser version.

though i think harts second tier and benavidez pretty overhyped to this stage. crazy how one win over a gatekeeper like porky was all that was needed for him to get thrown in the discussion for the divisional #1. and of course right after that he had problems with gavril, got put on his ass, and is even rematching him. i think his big potential is more long term than imnediate.

still far more interesting than cox and brant though. btw not sure if any of you follow the british board here, but cox might be the most overrated fighter on the british scene. the dude is like almost 32 and has beaten nobody, and got stopped early vs his one good opponent, yet hes hyped as a monster even still