MARINA DEL REY >> A left-handed boxer usually has two choices in Mexico.
Become a right-hander. Or do something else.
?It happened with this kid,? said Jesus Zapari on Monday morning, watching a tall, curiously unmarked 23-year-old follow his own left hand around the ring.
?They tried to change him. In Mexico they say if you?re left-handed, you?ve got the devil with you.?
Gilberto Ramirez not only kept his paw pointing south. He took on the nickname ?Zurdo,? which means ?Lefty,? approximately.
The devil, with one notable exception, has left him alone.
Ramirez is reminiscent of a younger Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., baby-faced and friendly, with 31 wins, 24 knockouts and no losses.
On June 26 in Hidalgo, Texas, Ramirez runs up against Derek Edwards. The prize is another move up the 168-pound stepladder. The risks are high, because Edwards has beaten Badou Jack, the WBC super-middleweight champion. There will be warmth and applause on Ramirez?s side, and also pressure. He needs to win in a way that will make networks and fans want to count the nights until he wins again.
Ramirez is coming off a solid, unanimous decision over Maxim Vlasov in January. He has been forced to apologize for it ever since.
He was never in jeopardy and usually in command. He landed 178 punches to Vlasov?s 115. And Vlasov came into the fight with a 30-1 record. As Ramirez got back to his corner and put on his white cowboy hat, the judges were calibrating a victory by two, two and three points.
Ramirez went to 31-0, but the court of Internet opinion, never a tranquil place, backlashed hard against him. The fact that the two had to meet at a catch-weight of 171 pounds was one issue, and so was Ramirez?s failure to land the big hammer. He also finished weakly and got bloodied a bit.
?If people want to say that I didn?t look very good, I agree with them,? Ramirez said before his workout, through an interpreter.
?But you learn from every fight, and it gave me confidence to be more prepared next time.
?This fight (with Edwards) should be different. We?ve seen a lot of videos and we?ve seen him work against a lot of left-handers. He?s going to come to us. It?ll be a chance for me to look good.?
Ramirez grew up in Mazatlan, in Sinaloa province. Eventually he moved to Los Mochis to be with Zapari, his manager, and the father of Ramirez?s trainer Hector.
