Robeisy Ramirez is undecided on who will prevail in the Stephen Fulton-Naoya Inoue junior featherweight title fight.
He is also surprisingly unbothered by the matchup itself, considering his upcoming WBO featherweight title defense versus Satoshi Shimizu (11-1, 10KOs) is the evening’s co-feature. The 29-year-old Cuban southpaw cites that status as the very reason for his lack of opinion on the pound-for-pound level showdown.
“I don’t view either one as the favorite,” Ramirez told BoxingScene.com. “It is a very competitive fight between two great fighters. The career trajectory of Inoue has been admirable. From what I’ve seen of Stephen Fulton, he is a very talented fighter. They are two highly skilled boxers. It’s unfair of me to predict because I am more familiar with Inoue since we both fight for Top Rank. I lean towards him but it is a very, very close fight from what I know of both of them.
“Really, though, that fight isn’t even on my radar, I know it will be an amazing fight between two of the best fighters in the world. But they are not currently at my weight, and they’re not fighting for something I want. My focus is on Satoshi Shimizu.”
Both fights will air live on Lenimo in Japan and on ESPN+ in the U.S.
Ramirez (12-1, 7KOs) puts all of his energy into his own bouts to the point of general apathy towards the rest of the show any time he fights. It’s quite a statement considering his past bouts have shared shows with some of the more notable fights of the past couple years.
He fought on the undercard of Tyson Fury’s off-the-canvas, eleventh-round knockout of Deontay Wilder in ther rubber match which was hailed the 2021 Fight of the Year by several outlets. Ramirez was also in supporting capacity to Josh Taylor’s points win over Jose Ramirez to fully unify the junior welterweight division, and again when Taylor claimed a disputed decision victory over England’s Jack Catterall last February in Glasgow.
The two-time Olympic Gold medalist and reigning featherweight titlist aptly follows the sport, just not when it comes time for his own scheduled outings.
“It’s no disrespect to the main event. I know the fans are looking forward to that fight,” noted Ramirez. “But it was the same when I fought in Glasgow and everyone was excited about Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall. My focus that night was on Eric Donovan.
“That was the fight that opened the doors to becoming a contender for the title I have today. Now I have to defend that title, so I don’t really get to view this show as a fan. This is a business trip for me. My business is to beat Shimizu and defend my title.”
Philadelphia’s Fulton (21-0, 8KOs) will attempt his third overall title defense and second as the unified WBC/WBO titlist. He is viewed as a +260 underdog according to bet365 sportsbook, who lists Inoue (24-0, 21KOs) as a +360 favorite to become a four-division champion.
The same sportsbook has Ramirez as a – favorite to make the first successful defense of the WBO featherweight title he won in an April 1 unanimous decision over former 122-pound titlist Isaac Dogboe. Shimizu is a + underdog to prevail in his first career title fight.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox