Zurdo-Hart II is coming.
Corpus Christi, Texas is getting another dose of WBO super middleweight titleholder Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (38-0, 25 KOs) on December 14th. This will be both Zurdo’s second fight in the South Texas city and his second defense against Philadlphian power punching contender Jesse Hart (25-1, 22 KOs). The two men first met a bit over a year ago in Arizona. Both men have fought successfully multiple since, but neither fighter has been in a particularly compelling matchup.
The first dance was a good fight too, thankfully. Early on Zurdo dominated and even dropped Hart hard, but the Jesse gained confidence as the fight went on. The second generation fighter was in control and doing real damage down the stretch. He didn’t quite make up the margins created by his early deficit on the cards though and the defending titleholder walked away with his belt. Hart will now be armed with the confidence in what he can do to Ramirez from the opening bell, however, and this figures to be a really compelling rematch. Zurdo will need to return to the more technical form he rose to contention with if he wants to stay safe on December 14th.
Also about to be booked is a WBO welterweight title eliminator between the brilliantly nicked named “Mean Machine” Egidijus Kavaliauskas (20-0, 16 KOs) against Nicaraguan prospect Roberto Arriaza (17-0, 13 KOs). This fight looks likely to land as the November 16th co-feature slot underneath Maurice Hooker’s first junior welterweight title defense in Oklahoma City against local star Alex Saucedo. The winner will become Terence Crawford’s mandatory challenger. The Mean Machine was actually a front runner to get the Crawford shot that Jose Benavidez Jr ended up with over the weekend, but his struggles against fringe contender Juan Carlos Abreu last time out put a pause on that. He’ll be officially in line if he wins the eliminator though. Arriaza is no pushover, however, as the Central American has had real success fighting on a high regional level stateside too.
