WBA/WBO Cruiserweight Showdown
Last night’s PBC/PPV Prime Video Main Event surpassed my expectations when WBA/WBO Cruiserweight Champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (48-2, 30 Kos) took on WBC Light Heavyweight Champion David “The Mexican Monster “Benavidez (32-0, 26 Kos) and completely got dominated by the younger man who was moving up in weight to do battle at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
I anticipated these two warriors who were very familiar with one another after sparing over 100 rounds or so in the past to give us a mind-blowing boxing match but what transpired was the complete opposite.
Ramirez came out the gate with a “game plan” in mind and proceeded to execute it as instructed in the first few rounds but soon found out once Benavidez started to let his hands go that this “Mexican Monster” was the real deal under them bright lights.
Ramirez quickly threw the original “game plan” out the ring as Benavidez started to pick up the pace and force Ramirez into a shootout. As I’ve mentioned in the past going toe-to-toe with “The Mexican Monster” while not being properly prepared is a death trap which Ramirez fell right into. Not being able to match Benavidez punch for punch is detrimental to your health.
The hand speed in which Benavidez comes at you with has a tendency of breaking most combatants down and did just that in the final seconds of the fourth round when Benavidez unleashed a barrage of unanswered punches to the head of Ramirez, dropping him to a standing 8 count.
Ramirez either refused or ignored his cornerman’s instructions but the inevitable was nearby. Ramirez wrongfully continued to stand toe-to-toe and attempted to bang with Benavidez but was visibly breaking down unable to stand his ground as Benavidez ‘s speed and clip rate was too much to contend with and eventually succumbed to a deadly three-piece punch combination that closed the show in the sixth round prompting the referee to halt the bout.
To simply put it, Ramirez was outgunned on every level. It was a very impressive and dominate performance by “The Mexican Monster” who now enters History as the first combatant to win Titles at Super Middleweight, Light Heavyweight and now Cruiserweight.
With Benavidez now holding the WBA/WBO Cruiserweight Titles and the WBC Light Heavyweight Title, his options are quite interesting. I can’t wait to see which avenue he decides to tackle on next.
Until then, congratulations David.
Blaze