Gilberto Ramirez has confirmed his future after losing to David Benavidez, while also addressing the elbow controversy in their cruiserweight encounter earlier this month.
‘Zurdo’ entered their showdown as the defending unified champion, but was ultimately relieved of his WBO and WBA world titles via a sixth-round stoppage.
The emphatic finish came courtesy of a sustained onslaught from Benavidez, who scored a fourth-round knockdown before becoming a three-division world champion.
Despite it being his first outing at 200lbs, ‘The Mexican Monster’ showed remarkable composure and hand speed, forcing a nasty swelling to appear on his opponent’s right eye.
Ramirez, to his credit, showed tremendous spirit to battle through the pain, but was eventually beaten into submission by the naturally smaller man.
Since their contest, video footage has shown that Benavidez connected with an elbow during one of their exchanges, causing a slow-motion replay of the incident to circulate on social media.
In response, the 29-year-old has insisted that it was completely unintentional, yet a selection of observers have attempted to accuse him of using dirty tactics.
Ramirez, however, has urged fans to not discredit Benavidez’s performance, while also explaining in a social media post that he intends to “come back stronger”.
“Saturday didn’t go the way I planned. The loss is painful – the hurt is real. But I’ll sit with it, learn from it, and come back stronger. This is not the end.
“I tip my hat to David… His success didn’t come overnight, and that only motivates me more. Don’t discredit what he brought — he was the better man that night and I have nothing but respect for him and his team for the preparation they put in. Elbow or no elbow, it’s a fight at the end of the night.
“If we ever share that ring again, I’ll be better prepared — and I will get my revenge. For now, I’m taking time with my family and enjoying the summer.”
At the age of 34, it is difficult to see where Ramirez goes from here, while a rematch with Benavidez appears far from realistic.
Instead, the WBC light-heavyweight champion has initiated preliminary talks for an undisputed showdown with Dmitry Bivol, who must first defeat mandatory challenger Michael Eifert on May 30.