Hall of fame boxing legend, Oscar De La Hoya, was on hand at the Brickhouse Boxing Club in Los Angeles on Tuesday at the open media workout for his fighter Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez who is fighting Dmitry Bivol in a light heavyweight championship bout in Abu Dhabi on November 5th.
De La Hoya believes his fighter Ramirez is the best at light heavyweight and will remain undefeated and be the first man to beat Bivol and capture the WBA light heavyweight title.
Bivol is best known for defeating Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez in a decision win that made Canelo look ordinary.
De La Hoya who promoted Canelo for the majority of his boxing career wasn’t impressed with how his former fighter looked against Gennady Golovkin in the rubbermatch between the two rivals.
The third fight between Canelo and Golovkin didn’t live up to the hype with fans feeling neither guy looked great. Golovkin was already past his best, and Canelo failed to seize his opportunity for a stoppage since Golovkin was very gunshy.
Media members during the open workout asked opinion on how Canelo looked and he felt something was off with his conditioning.
“Look, let me give you my expert opinion,” De La Hoya told media members at the Brickhouse Boxing Club. “I don’t know exactly what happened in either guys camp. First of all, the first and second fights (Canelo vs. Golovkin) were a lot better with more action, very technical, but a lot more action, a lot more conditioning.
“I don’t know but it seemed like Canelo couldn’t take it to a second gear. Maybe he was worried about his conditioning. It was a different weight but Canelo was already used to fighting at 175 pounds, and then came back down to 168 so he should have had the advantage.
Oscar who changed trainers often in his career thinks maybe a change in camp for Canelo would help reinvigorate him.
“I don’t know maybe something happened in his camp because he wasn’t confident enough to throw a three, four, five punch combination because he maybe felt that he was going to get tired, in your mind that plays games on you. Maybe there is something in his corner. Maybe there is something he has to switch up or change around. Look, I switched trainers 8 times for a reason. I didn’t become eleven time world champion for nothing,” said De La Hoya.
