Zurdo Ramirez: Benavidez’s Weaknesses, Their Sparring War & Mexico vs Mexico on May 2

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2:17at its best. Terms apply. Learn more about Amex's partnership with the NFL and Premium Events Collection at go.amex.nfl. Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and now generated assets, which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt, from renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers, growing revenue over 20 % year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work.

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3:21Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures. What up? This is the Super Ward Jones Jr. I'm hanging out with my man, Andre Ward. We two Hall of Famers will bring y 'all a show called a hall of game a show where we discuss boxing sports life and entertainment from our view how much better than that can you get me and roy don't always agree but one thing you will get is a hall of fame worth the game and welcome back to another episode of the hall of game with me and my boy roy jones jr what's up bro how you doing brother i'm good but how you feeling man it's a great day great show we got a great guest today today our guest is a three-time world champion he's the current wbo wba cruiserweight champion mexico's first ever cruiserweight champion i want to welcome to the show gilberto zerto ramirez thank you for coming on gilberto thank you thank you for having me yeah you are one half of the big show that's taking place saturday may 2nd at the t-mobile Arena live on pay-per-view on Prime Video and his own pay-per-view against David Benavidez.

4:33A couple weeks out, Zerto, this is a very key time in training camp for fighters. How are you feeling? Oh, I feel great. I feel so excited for this May 2nd in Las Vegas. And I mean, it's just like dream come true right now. For a while, Floyd Mayweather, he held Cinco de Mayo hostage and And then Canelo Alvarez held Cinco de Mayo hostage. But now you finally get a chance to fight on that great Mexican holiday. How does that feel? So Mexico versus Mexico duel. I mean, it's great because we never have two big guys in fighting Cinco de Mayo. And I mean, it's just exciting. It's making history. You guys got history.

5:15And I'm going to get into the history in just a second. But how did this fight get made with you and David Benavidez? Well, I think it'd be a war. We've been working a long time before, but I think as a fighter, we grew up. We did our different paths, but he's one of the greatest, I'm one of the greatest, and I think it'll be just a war. It's exciting for this fight. Now, if I'm not mistaken, the first time that you guys sparred was your training camp for your first world title against Arthur Abraham at 168, correct? Yeah, that's correct. so how did those rounds go or how does the sparring go when you and david benavidez get in there well it was a pay-per-view sparring and then we knew one day we will fight and i told him uh we need to make this fight happen one day and because i mean it was a pay-per-view this is my last one for for now and i'm gonna let roy ask a question but But I never wanted to spar guys that I thought I might fight.

6:17Right? You can never fully predict it. You never know how things are going to go. But that time is here now for you. He knows a lot about you. You know a lot about him. How are you going to make this work? And how do you fight a guy that has so many sparring rounds under his bag with you? Well, I think it's different on the small gloves and no headgear. I think it'd be an amazing fight. And then, I mean, I want to put a great show. He want to put a great show. Both of us, we want to be a great. And then this is the fight that the boxing need to make it, right? This is the fight that all the fans need to see.

6:54So you're not worried about the sparring? No, I'm not. In sparring, what do you feel were the strong things about David? What was his strongest characteristics? All the pressure that he has, all the volume. And I mean, it was a great sparring. and that's why we tried to sport every time that we couldn't. We can, and I mean, that was a good sparring. How do you feel about punching power? I mean, he has power. He has power, and he has a heart, and then he came really prepared for this fight, and both of us, we went to put a great show for Cinco and Mayo, May 2nd, and I think it should be an amazing fight.

7:34Okay. Does he have any weaknesses that you think you can exploit? But I think he do have some weaknesses, but I'm working on it, on the gym. You're not going to tell us though, right? No, I'm not going to tell you. But he said you got some. We got a way to see. That's what I want to know. I want to know did you find anything that you saw that may be beneficial to you that you saw through the sparring, you know, because that's why I'm like, Andre, I didn't really like to spar with people that I thought I might fight. I sparred with Rich Johnson once in 1991. one I sport one round with him and I got out because I felt like he was ranked number one but I was ranked number eight but I already knew I could beat him so I'm like I'm not going to teach him anything about me because if he ever gets the belt I'm taking it because I know I can beat him already so I understood that that's why I asked you that question was there anything that you saw in him that you knew you could exploit but you answered it perfect yeah but but the thing is uh um I'm I'm I want to I want to fight him because he's uh one of the pump for pump fighter and he He wants to move up to cruiserweight, and that's why I want to.

8:38Mija wants to be the best, and he wants to be the best. I mean, it's the fight that needs to happen. Well, that sounds like it's a Mexican thing, bro. Like, they're not tripping. They're not worried about them rounds, man. It's mano y mano. We got a total line. You know, it's Cinco de Mayo. We got to get it on. We got to hold it. It's more important than what we think. Zerto, how do you feel at 34 years of age? And how is training camp different than maybe when you were in your 20s? Well, it's been a long ride in this sport. I've been in 20 years in this sport. And I feel amazing. I feel like I'm on my prime.

9:21on my prime, but I think sooner or later I need to slow down because my age too. But do you feel like you're slowing down or do you feel like you're right in your prime? No, I feel right now, I feel right on my prime. Yeah. Strong, faster, I put a lot of hard work and I feel really great. Your coach, man, you've been with Julian Chua for a very long time and what makes him good as a coach and why does that relationship work with YouTube? I mean, he's a smart guy and we always have a good chat and then he's only, he's different because he has a lot of hungry to be a like a money packet trainer and he wants to be big in this sport that it makes you like for us it's like good match because I want to be great.

10:20He want to be great. Then we put a lot of hard work in the gym. And then he's a really intelligent guy. Did anybody ever hurt anybody in the sparring? Not really. Not really. Not even body shots? No. No body shots. Okay. Okay. But I mean, it will be an amazing fight. I don't think we will need a ref in this fight because we're going to throw a lot of punches. And it'd be a war. How do you play the next volume punch? We know he throws volume punches. Are you going to keep up with that pace or are you going to do something different for that? I want to keep the pace. I want to be toe-to-toe. And then probably I'm going to boxing because I'm good boxing.

11:03I mean, I have a lot of skill to deal with this performance. Well, that's the question I want to ask is you want to go toe-to-toe, but what is your coach? What is Julian saying about you going toe-to-toe? But we will be smart in this fight. We will be smart and then we will make the perfect plan for this fight. So you pick your spots. You got to know when to box and then when to stand toe-to-toe and get your respect. Yes, yes. I want to touch back on the question that Roy asked about the volume puncher because that's one thing to face a pressure fighter. But when you face a pressure fighter who throws a lot of punches where his defense is really just his offense, He keeps guys off of him by throwing a lot of punches.

11:48And he's not only a volume puncher, but he's a heavy puncher as well. What is the game plan or the style that you have to employ to slow him down a little bit and not let him set the pace of the fight? I mean, doing my fight, throw a lot of punches, move my head, dodge it a lot. Yeah, and I mean, put up pressure sometimes too. So sometimes you got to meet fire with fire. and then other times you got to use your defense and your skill to maybe make him miss. Yeah. Make him discouraged to throw. Yeah. Is that what you're saying? This past weekend, like every other Sunday, you were on the court with the guys playing ball.

12:28Just a pickup game, living out your hoot dreams. No triple doubles, but a mean set of threes. In between buckets, one of the homies mentioned, he closed on a new crib. This is big. And while everyone's asking about the housewarming and making plans to celebrate, you're asking the real questions. Like, has he spoke to his State Farm agent yet about coverage? See, home ownership is one thing, but the right coverage is the real game changer. Even more than your last hot streak, it's how you protect your legacy. Dropping buckets and bars on the court, a State Farm agent can more than assist you with finding the right coverage for your new place.

13:08If you have a claim, your local agent can help you file it. Yep, that's right. over the phone, in person, online, or on the app. They're ready to help you. And they don't drop the ball, if you know what I mean. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and now generated assets, which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20 % year over year.

13:48You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-of-a-kind index, and lets you backtest it against the S &P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities. Completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com slash podcast and earn an uncapped 1 % bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com slash podcast. Paid for by Public Investing. Brokered services by Open to the Public Investing, Inc., member FINRA and SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors, LLC, SEC Registered Advisor.

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17:30No problemo. No problem. Yeah, no problemo. Yeah, no problemo. What's the message that you want to send, Zerto, May 2nd? Man, you've been in the game a long time, and I feel like this is another big moment for you that you have to seize and you have to take advantage of. So what is the message May 2nd that you're going to send to David Benavidez in the boxing world? I mean, everyone will see a war. Everyone will see the best performance on Surto Ramirez. And don't miss the fight May 2nd. And I'll see you, everyone, in Vegas. Nos vemos todos en Las Vegas. No prediction? I will win. I will win. That's a prediction.

18:10Well, champ, we'll take that. We appreciate you. Thank you for taking the time out of your camp. We know it's not easy, brother. And we'll get up with you, and we'll talk to you after the fight, brother. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you. I want to get your thoughts on this this big cruiserweight showdown that we got May 2nd. It's about a week and a half out between three-time world champion Zerto Ramirez and three-time world champion David Benavidez. Zerto was once a super middleweight champion. He moved up to light heavy and now he's at cruiser and David Benavidez has pretty much terrorized the super middleweight and light heavyweight division just because of his height, his reach, his style the pressure the toughness everything that he brings to the ring but now david benavidez is going up to cruiser weight and i got questions about that jump from light heavy to cruiser that's probably the only jump in weight that you haven't done right light heavy to cruiser but how is that in your mind how's that gonna either help or hurt david benavidez and then how do you see this matchup.

19:15I see one guy has a certain gear, another guy has another type of gear, but that doesn't mean that the guy with the higher gear is going to win. Talk to me about this matchup between Zardo Ramirez and David Benavidez. Well, the first thing is, David Benavidez always was a bigger guy. He always came down to weak players that he made. So him carrying 200 is nothing new to his body. He's used to that. His body is used to that. He's been there several times before. So I think the weight problem is definitely not an issue with David Benavidez. Zerto, however, has basically carried himself up there too And he's done well already He's world champ, two world titles as a cruiserweight So that's saying a lot about him too And I just feel like both guys can carry the weight properly Because of their build, their statue I think both of them will do well carrying the weight Zerto, I have not seen Zerto really deal with a volume puncher Like Benavidez before But the good thing for Zerto is that Because he's far with him before He has the insight on him already They have insight on each other So one thing that I don't think we've seen from David is a guy who has fought with him who knew him already.

20:19Most guys are overwhelmed when they see him and see the volume and see the size. They're completely overwhelmed by it. Zerto, on the other hand, knows it. Now, we've seen Zerto suffer defeat before, so we know Zerto can be beat. We know that question can be, that riddle can be solved. We have not seen it as solved the Benevides riddle yet. so for me Zerto has to prove that he can solve the realtor because we know his realtor has been solved before and if anybody that can resolve it again is a person who knows him and has been in the ring with him already which is gonna be that so that's how I see it going for me before I get my take on the fight you said something you know anytime we talk about fighter sparring that could potentially fight for everything right like they fighting for their careers legacy money everything right now anytime we talk about that you always bring up, you know, you sparring Reggie Johnson, a guy that you ended up fighting.

21:11And you had the foresight to know that I'm probably going to fight this guy for a world title and a whole lot of M's one day. And you said that I didn't want to teach him anything about me. What do you mean by that? Well, I was different. I was unique. I was a different kind of fighter. If you can spar with a guy, you learn what he brings to the table if he gives you everything. If I spar with Reggie for five, six rounds, I got to bring out everything on Reggie because Reggie was a good fighter. And Reggie, as he get used to what I did, he was going to make adjustments. I didn't want him to know how to make those adjustments.

21:47Make those adjustments the night of the fight. You understand me? Because I know on the night of the fight, I got so much more that I can bring to you that I'm not going to teach you none of it because if I teach you half of it, then you're going to have half of the resolve. You're going to force me not to go dig deeper. And they're really not paying me enough for me to be digging that deep in my bag to beat you. You feel me? So I should have to go that deep. They're not. So I should have to go that deep in my bag to beat you when I already see that. I can beat you with the first five items in the bag I think I can handle you with.

22:15So when I saw that, I was like, let me get out. My dad cussed me out. Called me all kind of names. He thought you were scared. I'm not scared. I just beat him. But I'm saying, what did Pops think when you got out? What was his mindset? He said, where you going? I said, I'm done. What you mean? I said, he can't beat me. I said, if he get to be world champ and you training him, too bad. If they offer it to me, I don't know him like that. I'm whipping his, you know what? You know what I'm saying? Get back. I'm done. I said, I'm done. That's your fighter. That's your fighter. I mean, he what he is.

22:46When it comes time for me to see him, I'm taking it. I don't care if you're with him. You know what I'm saying? I mean, that's just what it was. But I had to learn that, no, you got to walk a life with God in front of you. And when God said go, you got to go. So you can't be worried about what nothing and nobody else says. I understood that early. So when I got in there, I knew before I got in there what it was going to be, and I knew what it should be and why I was going to get out if it was what I thought it was going to be. I already knew I was better than him. So when I got in there, I did everything I wanted to do to him.

23:15So I got out. I said, yeah, he can't beat me. How many rounds were you going that day? One. One round. One. One round. One. Told Pops that's it. That's it. I'm done. What was Reggie Johnson doing? What was he doing when this was going on? He wasn't doing nothing. He wanted to get back because he lost that round. He hoping he could try to wear this young kid down and get some get back. No, you're not going to do that because when we fight, that's not going to happen either. So, and since you're even thinking about that, that's not going that way. Let's just get that understood. That's not going to happen when it comes down to Cranstown.

23:47So you can forget that too. You understand me? So I already knew what it was and I know my dad wants to let him get used to sparring me so he can see that he's not as good as he thought he was. But then my dad could feel like he can have him thinking, well, I want to get like your son is. No, you're not going to teach me to get like me. You understand me? that's not going to happen. Not on my clock because I know that if me and you fall out the first thing you're going to say is yeah tell me to come fight this guy. This guy I didn't talk to this guy how to beat him. Yeah that's what you would have did to me.

24:13I'm not giving you that. God is my father. I'm sorry I love you to death but God is the ultimate father. I'm listening to what God told me. God said get in there see where you at get you in and get out. And that's what I did. And then when y 'all fought I got me a bunch of them. I got me a bunch of them and got out. Man I feel it though. Perez was a great dude. Yeah I feel it because, you know, I was very, you know, standoffish to guys that I felt like I could possibly fight. You know, I just put me. I just I don't have time. Like like Verge was more, hey, you know, just, you know, you ain't going to fight him.

24:47And if I felt in my gut, it's a possibility. I'm talking about a guy above me one way class or below me one way class. Because if you below me, you may grow out of a weight class. The next thing you know, we look at eye to eye. You want to hire a weight class? I might outgrow mine and ever since next thing you know, I'm looking at you eye to eye. I just didn't have a lot of tolerance for it, Roy. So I feel you like I don't need no more friends. I don't have a lot of friends in the game and I'm not looking for no more friends. This is business for me. And if it's a clear path where I can see there's no way we're going to fight.

25:17I'm more apt to conversate, bring you into the team and talk you through because I want the best for fighters. You know what I'm saying? I'm always fighting. I want to do what I can do when I can do it for anybody on the way up. And, you know, we were able to do that for a lot of guys. But the sparring thing is different, man. Like like I really don't have nothing for you because I take that personal like in a boxing ring. As we know, your family's there. And no matter what happens, good or bad, they got to witness that. Right. There's money on the line. One lost promoters, managers, they acting funny.

25:51Oh, man, we got to you know, we got to renegotiate your minimums and we got to figure this out. I just didn't have time for none of that. And I know that you may be smiling in my face today, but you really you really want that spot. And if you can clip me and get my name on your resume and get and beat me and take what I have and then all of a sudden you start making the money that I was making that have the name and the prestige that I had, then you're going to do that. So that's just how I looked at it when it came to getting close to certain guys. And I have boxing friends, but I'm saying dudes that was around my weight class is hard for me.

26:23and we'll talk about the Andre Durrell situation as amateurs as we came up and even when we turned pro another time but that's another tough one right like this is a dude that we came up together but brother when we got into this super six things changed man Verge is very close to the late great bumper man Andre Durrell's Leon Sr. man his grandfather man you know just a great great man always loved seeing him and they stayed close throughout the amateurs into the pros and when the Super 6 got made I don't know what they was on but they off to the side our boys ain't gonna fight ain't no way our boys gonna fight we'll pull him out the tournament and I'm looking at I'm saying Burns I'm hold on that contract say if he win that neck right there if he win his next fight we fight if I win my next fight which I just did.

27:21If I beat Kessler, we fighting. Right? Nah, nah, nah. I'm like, nah. I had to, brother, I love you, but I gotta love you from a distance because you're trying to hit me in my mouth. You're trying to embarrass me and you're trying to take what I got. Right? And once we got past that and realized we wasn't gonna fight, we good again. That's just how it is. So we say all that to say, I admire the Zerdos of the world and the David Benavidez of the world saying, look, bro, let's make some money together. This ain't personal. You know, we done put in hundreds of rounds together, and we just going to pick it up where we left off.