Gilberto Ramírez

Gilberto Ramírez Sánchez (born 19 June 1991) is a Mexican professional boxer.

In April 2010, Ramírez beat veteran Jesus Ayala by second-round knockout (KO) in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico.

On 17 December 2010, Ramírez knocked out the undefeated Rogelio Medina to win the vacant WBC Youth middleweight title.

The bout was held at the Gimnasio German Evers in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico.

Starting from 2011, Ramírez moved up to super-middleweight.

In his first fight of the year, Ramírez fought 32 year old Antonio Arras and knocked him out via technical knockout (TKO) in round eight.

Ramírez next stopped Francisco Villanueva in seven rounds.

In July 2011, Ramírez moved back down middleweight to defend his WBC Youth title.

He successfully defended the title beating Oney Valdez, Amilcar Edgardo Funes Melian and Samuel Miller all inside the distance.

Ramírez went ten rounds with Jaime Barboza (17–6, 8 KOs).

Ramírez won via unanimous decision (100–90, 100–91, 97–93).

Ramírez next fought at super middleweight against Isaac Mendez, winning via TKO in round eight.

Ramírez then went down to middleweight successfully defending the WBC Youth title a final two times against Richard Gutierrez, who Ramírez beat on all scorecards (100–90) and Marcus Upshaw, also winning via ten-round unanimous decision (98–92, 99–90 twice).

According to sources in February 2013, Ramírez was on the verge of signing with promotional company Top Rank.

This was later revealed to be true.

Ramírez fought in the United States for the first time in his career on 24 August 2013 at the Civic Auditorium, Glendale, California.

His opponent was American Derrick Findley in a scheduled ten-round bout which went the distance.

Ramírez won on all three scorecards (100–90 x3).

In February 2014, Ramírez defeated Don Mouton at the Laredo Energy Arena, Laredo, Texas.

35 year old Mouton, who had not been stopped in 20 previous professional bouts, was knocked out in round one.

Two months later, Ramírez fought at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino against his most credible opponent to date, 33 year old Giovanni Lorenzo (33–6, 25 KOs).

Lorenzo was knocked down in round one, and twice in the fifth.

Ramírez claiming the win via TKO and winning the vacant NABF super middleweight title and vacant WBO NABO super middleweight title.

Ramírez averaged 30 landed punches per round.

Ramírez had a one off fight in Macau on the undercard of Rigondeaux-Kokietgym title fight.

He defeated Junior Talipeau (20–2–1, 7 KOs) via first-round TKO, after knocking him down three times, in the process winning the vacant WBO Inter-Continental super middleweight title.

Ramírez was back in US in November 2014 at the Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, this time beating Fulgencio Zúñiga via eighth-round TKO to retain the titles.

Zuniga's glove touched the canvas in round six, but the referee did not credit Ramírez with the knockdown.

In round eight, Ramírez unleashed a barrage of punches which were unanswered, convincing the referee to stop the fight.

On 18 December 2014 Top Rank matchmaker Brad Goodman announced that Ramírez would take on his toughest challenge to date on the undercard of Alvarado-Rios at the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, Colorado, against Russian boxer Maxim Vlasov (30–1, 15 KOs) on 24 January 2015.

The bout was set for a catchweight of 171 pounds and would mark the first time Ramírez fought on HBO.

Ramírez defeated Vlasov in a closely contested ten round bout (96–94 & 97–93 twice).

Ramírez landed 179 of 631 punches thrown (28%) and Vlasov landed 115 of his 411 thrown (28%).

On 18 April, it was announced that Ramírez would return to the ring on 12 June against 35 year old Derek Edwards (27–4–1, 14 KOs) on TruTV.

It was pushed back two weeks to take place on 26 June instead.

The fight took place at the State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas, as Ramírez defeated Edwards via a ten-round decision.

Ramírez won every round on all three judges' scorecards.

He held the WBO super middleweight title from 2016 to 2019, and is the first boxer from Mexico to win a major world title in that weight class.

As of November 2022, Ramírez is ranked as the world's third best active light heavyweight by The Ring magazine, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and BoxRec.

Ramírez had an 80% knockout ratio after this fight, and it would be the last time he won inside the distance until seven fights later on 3 February 2017.