Ramirez is more than qualified to face Bivol now and hopefully unless Canelo Alvarez picks up his option for his rematch with Bivol, Ramirez will receive his shot next rather than get stuck against the Buatasi-Richards winner, which I have a funny feeling might be where Ramirez might be forced to make his next fight.
The co-feature was an action affair as lightweight prospect William Zepeda survived a stern test from veteran Rene Alvarado in a tight battle.
Give the credit to this one to Alvarado, who lost his fourth fight in a row but loses no credibility for losing this one and made a gallant stand against the younger and power-punching Zepeda as he matched him blow for blow for most of the fight.
Zepeda won the final three rounds on my scorecards as the older and naturally smaller Alvarado began to wilt just enough too to allow Zepeda to slide by with a 96-94 win on my card.
One judge saw it the same as I did with the other two a wider 97-93 and too large 98-92 call.
A good victory for Zepeda and a strong effort from Alvarado, who showed in defeat that he still has a little left in his career.
Triller had been away from the fight game for a while but while their return may not have been pay-per-view worthy, there were two interesting fights headlining their show.
In the main event, former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev returned to the ring for the first time since his knockout loss to Canelo Alvarez in 2019 and won a unanimous decision in his debut at cruiserweight over previously undefeated Olympic bronze medalist Tervel Pulev.
The cruiserweight version of Kovalev doesn't fight like the feared bomber that ruled the light heavyweight division and should have received the decision against Andre Ward in their first fight but instead is a more mobile boxer that uses the jab to control the action, much as he did to some success in his loss to Canelo Alvarez.
Kovalev looked good against Pulev with his new style which should protect what has become a shaky chin in his latter years with three of his four losses coming by knockout (Ward in their rematch, Eleider Alvarez and Canelo Alvarez) and despite Pulev moving forward throughout the fight, the Kovalev jab kept Pulev at bay and off-balance.
I scored Kovalev a 97-93 winner, which was the same as one judge with the other two scoring Kovalev a 98-92 winner.
Kovalev instantly becomes the biggest name in a division that rarely possesses stars and when they do have them, they don't stay long.
Kovalev is going to be small for the division and I wonder how his power will fare against the top two fighters in the division in IBF champion Mairis Bredis or WBO champion Lawrence Okolie but should he receive a title shot in the future, it'll be arguably the most interesting fight in the division other than a Briedis-Okolie unification bout.
Former heavyweight title challenger Kubrat Pulev won a unanimous decision over journeyman Jerry Forrest in an occasionally fun fight with Pulev taking over after four rounds against a competitive but worn-out Forrest.
Forrest was entering this bout off a controversial loss to Michael Hunter that most thought he deserved the decision but Pulev is a solid top 10/15 fighter that is overmatched against the elite of the division but is a class above the Jerry Forrest types.
I scored Pulev the winner 98-92 which agreed with one judge as the other two saw Pulev as a 99-91 winner.
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