Boxing purists raise an eyebrow when they see a southpaw in the ring, but they lose their temper when there are two of them facing each other. That’s why the phrase exists: “The only thing worse than a lefty is two of them”.
In the classic era, they were criticized for the way they fight for space, how they step on their rivals when they have their guard up, how they experiment with angles and blows that normally put them at risk, or simply forget to throw punches and end up offering dense fights with little spectacle.
In Rocky II, Mickey Goldmill makes his own list of flaws: everything they do is backwards, the right was left; the jabs were crosses and the chaos grows when their opponent does everything the same way they do. That’s why analysts point out that there is rarely an exciting fight between two left-handers.
However, there are some exceptions that have been exciting between two rivals with this guard: In 1997, we had a spectacular fight of just four rounds between ‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed and Kevin Kelley, in which each went to the canvas three times and ended with a spectacular knockout in favor of Hamed.
Will there be a spectacle between Jai Opetaia and ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez?
On May 3, there will be a fight between two southpaws for dominance of the cruiserweight division, between Australian Jai Opetaia and Mexican Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, a combination of styles that looks explosive.
Opetaia is one of the most aggressive fighters today, while Ramirez is a technical fighter with great punching power, who has already been successful in the super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, but his ideal weight is precisely against bigger opponents. In something he agrees with his opponent: both love to test the determination of an opponent before breaking his heart and demolishing him.
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Therefore, this combination anticipates many possibilities of a real fight: Opetaia and Ramirez will not want to give ground or the initiative of the fight. Both will fight to impose their style and when they find the way, they advance, cling and throw punches at times when their opponent prefers to rest.
In fact, many experts are surprised that this fight does not appear on the list of the best fights for 2025, because there is also a unified title at stake from three organizations: WBA, WBO and IBF to pave the way for a new undisputed champion in boxing’s larger divisions.