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Abu Dhabi – WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) retained his championship with a dominant twelve round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Gilberto Ramirez (44-1, 30 KOs) in a mandatory fight.
The scores were 118-110, 117-111 and 117-111.
Bivol is now in the lead for ‘Fighter of The Year’ honors after securing two big victories in 2022.
Back in May, Bivol made a statement by clearly outboxing heavy favorite Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez over twelve rounds for a dominant decision victory.
It was Canelo’s first defeat since 2013, when he was outboxed by Floyd Mayweather.
Ramirez, a very large light heavyweight, appeared like a rehydrated heavyweight in the ring – but he was not skilled enough to deal with Bivol’s speed and in-ring talents.
“I proved myself. I can beat the best guy in the world [in Canelo]. And now, I beat another guy who doesn’t know what losing is. I have another goal, I want to be undisputed champion. But everything is not up to me. It doesn’t depend only on me who I fight next. We have to agree as a team on which is better for us. But I hope they will listen to me and what I want,” Bivol said.
Bivol has several options at his feet – including a rematch with Canelo.
The option he wants most, is an undisputed showdown with WBC, WBO, IBF champion Artur Beterbiev. The problem at the moment, Beterbiev is making a mandatory defense in the early part of 2023 against Anthony Yarde, who himself returns later this month in a stay-busy fight.
Beterbiev is under contract with Top Rank, who have an exclusive content deal with ESPN. Bivol is contracted to Eddie Hearn of Matchroom, who has an exclusive deal with streaming service DAZN. Top Rank’s CEO Bob Arum has made it clear that he won’t stage Beterbiev-Bivol on DAZN.
“I want to go to this dream. My heart wants it but my brain and my mind understand how things are going. I want to fight for another belt. If I don’t have this chance in four or five months, I will take another fight,” Bivol said.