By Jack Tiernan: Dmitry Bivol says he doesn’t know why Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ is so confident of victory ahead of their match this Saturday, November 5, but he doesn’t matter to him.

WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) plans on dealing the self-assured mandatory challenger Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs) his first career defeat in their bout live on DAZN in their 1:30 p.m. ET card at the Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Ramirez’s self-belief could come from the sparring sessions that he had with Bivol many years ago, as he’s talked about them. The same with David Benavidez.

He feels confident as well of beating Bivol, but, of course, it’s not a good sign for the American that he struggled to beat Ronald Gavril in their two fights because that’s a guy Bivol would likely handle with ease.

“He has good body punch, and he throws not just one hard punch,” said Dmitry Bivol to Fight Hub TV about Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez. “He uses combinations. Usually, he uses four or three punches. It’s interesting.

“It’s harder when your opponent throws more punches than just one. I don’t know why he’s so confident. For me, it doesn’t matter. Maybe because he never lost. Maybe because he wants some attention.

“It doesn’t make sense now because it’s all about fighting. It’s all about actions in the ring. I can say whatever I want, but I should prove it in the ring.

“No, I don’t like talk.  If he wants, he can talk, but it doesn’t matter for me. Yeah, we had a couple of sparring, but I don’t think it’s professional to talk about sparring.

“It’s not respectful for a lot of boxers because I have a lot of sparring, and I don’t want to talk about sparring. Sparring is sparring. Let’s fight.

“I don’t know. I didn’t see his fights when I sparred with him,” said Bivol when asked how different Zurdo Ramirez is now compared to when he sparred with him.

“I just sparred with him, and before this fight, I watched his fights. Maybe similar. We can’t change too much, to be honest,”  said Bivol about Ramirez’s fighting style being similar now than it was when they sparred years ago.

“I saw my kid’s fights when I was a kid, and it’s the same style,” said Bivol.