Ramirez ready to defend title

Super middleweight titleholder Gilberto Ramirez is ready to get back in the ring after a year off with a hand injury

Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez, one of Mexico's best up-and-coming fighters, made it to the big stage last April when he got a mandatory super middleweight world title shot against division stalwart Arthur Abraham. Abraham was universally viewed as, by far, the best opponent of Ramirez's career. Ramirez, however, made Abraham look like he did not even belong in the ring with him.

Fighting on the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley Jr. III pay-per-view undercard in Las Vegas, Ramirez cruised to a shutout decision to claim a 168-pound world title. Ramirez not only won 120-108 on all three scorecards but he didn't lose even a single second of the fight in an utter whitewash.

"I was blown away by that performance," Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said. "I figured Zurdo was on his way to greatness."

But soon after Ramirez was scheduled to make his first defense three months later against Germany's Dominik Britsch on the Terence Crawford-Viktor Postol undercard in July, he tore the tendon around the knuckle of his middle finger on his right hand during a sparring session and had to have surgery. Ramirez withdrew from the fight and has been sidelined for nearly a year.

But now Ramirez (34-0, 24 KOs) is healthy and rearing to go for defense No. 1, which will come against Max Bursak (33-4-1, 15 KOs), 32, of Ukraine, in one of the bouts that Top Rank will feature on its April 22 pay-per-view card from the StubHub Center in Carson, California, where Ramirez should have a healthy cheering section from a largely Mexican crowd.

Top Rank announced the card, which will be headlined by featherweight titlist Oscar Valdez (21-0, 19 KOs), of Mexico, making a mandatory defense against Colombia's Miguel Marriaga (25-1, 21 KOs), on Tuesday at a news conference at a hotel in Manhattan Beach, California.

As far as Ramirez is concerned, his return can't come soon enough. The 25-year-old southpaw has been very anxious to get back into the ring.

"I was really sad, really mad when I got injured," Ramirez, who has learned to speak English very well, told ESPN in a telephone interview shortly after the news conference. "I really wanted to defend my title and I couldn't. But everything happens for a reason. All this time I thought about my career and how I would come back stronger and more hungry than before."

Arum said that Ramirez lost some momentum because of the injury but chalked up to the normal course of things that happen to athletes.

"That happens in boxing. Guys lose a whole season if they get injured in football or basketball," Arum said. "You have to accept that. He's very motivated now. He's had time to think about boxing and I love his attitude. He is ready to fight anybody."