ROBEISY RAMIREZ will entertain no distractions about possible future fights as he prepares for his date in Japan against Satoshi Shimizu.
The 29-year-old Cuban southpaw will defend his WBO featherweight belt for the first time on the Stephen Fulton-Naoya Inoue undercard on July 25.
Ramirez, who lost in his professional debut, has won 12 straight fights scalping Eric Donovan, Abraham Nova and Isaac Dogboe in the process.
He featherweight division he is one of the most talented in the sport with a top 10 filled with everything you would want from the best it has to offer.
Ramirez and Luis Alberto Lopez are both promoted by Top Rank and it’s hard to ignore a scenario where the two could fight each other at some point in the near future. Lopez has the IBF version after defeating Josh Warrington in December of last year before sweeping the hopes of Michael Conlan several weeks ago in Belfast.
boxing news asked Ramírez, through his translator, about the possibility of fighting López.
“I said I came here to fight the best, whether it’s ‘Venado’ Lopez, Leigh Wood, whoever. I want to be in good fights. We will have time after July 25 to think about this and the next steps, but no, I haven’t had a chance to talk about it yet.”
The same night, Lopez beat Conlan in the water in Manchester. Leigh Wood avenged his March loss to Mauricio Lara with one of the best performances of his career.
“Well, I just think with Leigh Wood he gave a more focused fight starting at weight,” Ramirez said of Wood-Lara 2.
“We saw that Lara had difficulties with her weight and then [with] Conlan and Lopez was a great fight. Lopez landed the best shots and was dominating him in terms of strength. Those are good fights in my division. There are a lot of good fighters there, high-quality fighters, so there could be a lot of good fights between us, and I think that’s good for me.”
Ramirez is a heavy favorite to beat the 37-year-old Shimizu 11-1 (10) next week. Although he is expected to win and win well, Ramirez is focused only on the task at hand. What may happen in the future can wait.
“I always focus on today and right now on July 25 against Shimuzu in Japan. The next day we can talk about López, Wood, Lara, anyone. We’ll talk about what comes next.”
“I have no problem fighting anyone, but I do try to focus on what I have pending and that is July 25. Make sure you emerge victorious and then we’ll see what we do next.”
