WBO featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez 13-1 (8) is rapt to be defending his world title for the second time against Rafael ‘El Divino’ Espinoza 21-0 (18) at Charles F. Dodge City Center in Pembroke Pines, Florida on December 9.
The 29-year-old Cuban southpaw will be having his third fight for the year. In April he claimed the vacant WBO belt with a comprehensive points win over former WBO super bantamweight champion Isaac Dogboe 24-3 (15) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He backed up with a fifth-round knockout of Satoshi Shimizu 11-2 (10) in Tokyo, Japan in July.
Ramirez is excited to get the chance to show off his skills in front of the large Cuban expat community in Miami.
“You know everything we have asked for, what we have talked about in all the discussions with [Top Rank],” Ramirez said to George Ebro.
“Before my championship fight with Isaac Dogboe I visited Bob Arum’s offices. He was the first to mention [holding a fight near Miami] and that’s when we started giving substance to what he said. We take him at his word. He told me, ‘when you become champion, can you imagine yourself in Miami?’ It is not in Miami itself, but it is about 25 minutes away.”
In a world where it’s normal for world champion to fight no more than two times a year, Ramirez says he prefers to stay active.
“I do my job, I prepare well and in the ring I go out to work,” he said. “I feel very good with the level of activity [that I’m having]. In 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, I fought five times. I have never had a problem with the number of fights offered. On the contrary, it’s fine for me. The more fights I have, the better I feel.”
One name often mentioned in the same sentence with Ramirez is IBF 126-pound champion Luis Alberto Lopez 29-2 (16). The 30-year-old Mexican is a promotional stablemate of Ramirez’ at Top Rank.
“I don’t think about that. If it happens, it happens. He knows. I am here to fight,” Ramirez said.
“A few days ago we said two or three things to each other privately. The fans want the fight and if the promoter wants it will happen. The last thing I said privately to him, as I have said to some pages: don’t put more Lopez vs Ramirez. It’s Ramirez vs Lopez. The champion is me.
“It’s a mix of styles, Mexican versus a really different Cuban style, which is not what people expect. His team starts talking nonsense that is irrelevant. When I have to stop and fight, I fight. It is a fight that would be very nice because of the styles. It is one thing to talk and another to see the train arrive.”
