Golden Boy Promotions President Eric Gomez says he is pleased that Gilbert Ramirez will finally receive his opportunity to face WBA world light heavyweight titleholder Dmitry Bivol.

Bivol and Ramirez reached a deal to square off on November 5 in the United Arab Emirates with the fight likely streaming live on DAZN. Bivol is promoted by Matchroom Boxing, which has a deal to stream fights on DAZN. Ramirez is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, which also streams fights on DAZN.

The deal, which was announced by Eddie Hearn on social media on Sunday afternoon, was finalized a few hours before the WBA was to call for a purse bid hearing via a Zoom conference call. 

“This is a great fight, exactly what boxing needs,” Gomez told The Ring Monday evening. “The best versus the best. (I hope) more of these fights happen in the future.”

Earlier this month, the WBA denied a petition by Hearn to have Bivol defend the title against contender Joshua Buatsi, ratifying Ramirez as the legit mandatory challenger. Ramirez fought in back-to-back WBA world title elimination bouts against Yunieski Gonzalez and Dominic Boesel, respectively.

Bivol (20-0, 11 knockouts), who now lives and trains in Indio, California, will be making the ninth defense of the WBA title. He has defeated the likes of Sullivan Barrera, Jean Pascal, and Joe Smith, Jr. amongst his world title defenses. 

In his last bout on May 7, Bivol outboxed Ring Magazine super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez to win by unanimous decision. There have been talks of a possible rematch taking place in May, but that all depends if Bivol can defeat Ramirez and Alvarez can defeat Gennadiy Golovkin on September 17. 

Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs), who resides in the boxing hotbed of Mazatlan, Mexico, stopped Boesel in the fourth round of his last bout on May 14. 

The 31-year-old, a former WBO world super middleweight titleholder, has won his last three bouts, all by knockout, since signing a promotional deal with Golden Boy Promotions. 

Bivol is rated no. 1 by The Ring at 175 pounds, while Ramirez is the no. 3 rated contender. Artur Beterbiev, who holds the IBF, WBC and WBO titles, is rated no. 2.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing 

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