The thought of fighting in his opponent’s home country is all but second nature to Robeisy Ramirez by now.
It hasn’t happened that often in the pro ranks but the Cuban southpaw traveled the globe during his storied amateur career that saw two Olympic Gold medal wins in 2012 London and 2016 Rio. Even as he’s relocated to the U.S., Ramirez still feels at times like a man without a country.
Given that, he was all the way in the moment he was presented the chance to defend his WBO featherweight title versus Japan’s Satoshi Shimizu (11-1, 10KOs). Their bout takes place this Tuesday at Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
“When this fight came up, we immediately grabbed it,” Ramirez told BoxingScene.com. “This is my first time in Japan. I’ve been around the world but have never fought in or even visited here. We will carry the same energy there as we do anytime we visit someone else’s country.”
Ramirez (12-1, 7KOs) will attempt the first defense of the title he won in an April 1 decision over former 122-pound titleholder Isaac Dogboe in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
It will mark the second pro fight outside the U.S. for Ramirez, who relocated to Miami but now trains in Las Vegas. His lone other road trip came in a dominant third-round knockout of Eric Donovan last February 26 in Glasgow, Scotland. The 29-year-old Cuban export now faces Shimizu, a promotional stablemate of former three-division champ Naoya Inoue (24-0, 21KOs) who challenges WBC/WBO junior featherweight titlist Stephen Fulton (21-0, 8KOs) in Tuesday’s main event.
I”’ve never been worried about traveling for a big fight, or fighting in my opponent’s home country,” insisted Ramirez. “I proudly represented Cuba in the amateurs but there were few big events there. So we were always the visiting fighters for all of the biggest tournaments. It’s never really stopped me from achieving my goals.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox