Artur Beterbiev’s trainer believes that his fighter will take on Dmitry Bivol to settle the undisputed status at light heavyweight, and do so on June 1.
Beterbiev had wanted to observe Ramadan before committing to another fight, and this summer opened up a spot in the calendar for the two men to meet in a high-profile match in Saudi Arabia.
Both men boast undefeated records and are two of the best pound-for-pound fighters in boxing, with Beterbiev claiming 20 stoppages from 20 fights, and Bivol famously defeating Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez a couple of years back when the Mexican stepped up from super middle.
Ramsey told BoxingScene.com that he thinks the start of June is a potential date.
“I think the fight is going to happen,” he said. “I think the 1st of June is a good date for the fight. I do know that Artur has a couple of little details, but they are nothing to do with the big stuff, it’s just some side stuff that we have to deal with.
"But to be honest with you, I am very optimistic for the 1st of June.
“He’s already in the gym now. He is about to go to do high altitude training in Russia for 21 days in March. He will then come back here [Montreal] to finish his nine weeks training camp with me.
"It will then just be a case of studying Bivol properly, finding the right sparring partners and having the right communication. It’s what we do every training camp. I don’t think there is anything personal here for Artur.
“He just wants to beat him because it is the person they put in front of him. He just wants to win, he’s real competitive. He’s never going to wait around, he’s not going to wait around for Canelo, wait around for Bivol, he will just fight the fight we need to do.”
Beterbiev’s last fight was a win over Callum Smith in January, and Ramsey was pleased with the performance.
“It was a good performance and it was exactly what we were planning,” Ramsey added.
“From the outside, maybe it looked a bit easy, but to break down Callum like this, round by round, little by little bit is very tough. Callum is a very good boxer, he has a great left hook from short distance and a good right hand from long distance.
"We had a lot to deal with in that fight. Sometimes fans don’t see the details from outside, but it was a sophisticated fight.”
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