Jai Opetaia-Gilberto Ramirez could be that rare all-southpaw battle worth watching

The only thing worse than a southpaw is two of them. Watch as they fight for space, tread on each other’s toes, and experiment with angles and punches they would ordinarily neglect. Watch as they overthink. Watch as they forget to throw. Watch as people at ringside start to yawn.  

Mickey, in Rocky II, said they should be outlawed, southpaws. They were too awkward, too unusual, and too much of a headache for someone as comparatively straightforward as his man, Rocky Balboa. Most of the time Rocky, like any fighter, would do the bulk of his sparring with fellow orthodox boxers, simply because there are more of them than southpaws, and this left him susceptible to being surprised whenever a left-handed fighter stood across the ring from him on fight night. Suddenly everything was back to front; right was left; jabs were crosses. Suddenly he was having to rethink all the moves and punches he would instinctively throw when in the ring with a man who shaped up the same way as him. 

Still, if you think that’s bad, try watching two southpaws in the ring together. That, for a fan, is every bit as exasperating as the feeling of fighting one as an orthodox boxer and tends to be something one endures rather than enjoys. Indeed, rarely do we ever see a thrilling fight between a couple of left-handers, particularly if the left-handers in question are southpaws with a propensity to box and move. In that instance, a fight between two of them is often as dull a spectacle as you are likely to find in a sport that encourages two human beings to punch each other until one of the two is rendered unconscious. 

Then again, to say they are all bad would not only be a sweeping generalisation but rather unfair. There have, after all, been a number of memorable and, yes, even thrilling fights between southpaws over the years. In 1997, for example, we had the spectacular four-round war between “Prince” Naseem Hamed and Kevin Kelley, which saw six knockdowns in total – three apiece – and one dramatic Hamed KO to finish. 

Long before that there were other epics like Cornelius Boza Edwards vs. Rafael Limon, a 1981 fight so stunning in terms of its action the stances of the two fighters became largely irrelevant. Righties or lefties, and they were both lefties, it really didn’t matter in the end. Together, they became a blur. 

The following decade we had John David Jackson vs. Reggie Johnson, which happened at middleweight in 1993, and even someone like Pernell Whitaker, a southpaw known for his elusiveness, was not averse to putting himself in harm’s way when confronted by a fellow southpaw. Against both Jose Luis Ramirez and Julio Cesar Vasquez he took chances, he stayed in the pocket, and both fights were all the better for it. 

More recently we had two memorable fights between Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams, the second of which, in 2010, ended with one of the nastiest one-punch knockouts in boxing history. We also witnessed a couple of compelling fights between Zab Judah and Cory Spinks in 2004 and 2005, with Spinks winning the first by decision and then Judah gaining revenge in the rematch via ninth-round stoppage. The same year Spinks beat Judah (2004) heavyweight Michael Moorer, a fading former world champion, proved that power is the last thing to go when he finished Vasiliy Jirov with a come-from-behind KO in round nine.

In 2014, meanwhile, Vasiliy Lomachenko boxed Gary Russell Jnr in only his third pro fight and that too was a fascinating battle between southpaws at featherweight. Five years after that, Josh Taylor and Regis Prograis, two southpaws who prefer to attack, then delivered a quite brilliant fight at London’s O2 Arena. 

Anyway, those are just a few examples of southpaws getting along. There have been others, too, and there may soon be an excellent one on the horizon should the cruiserweight division wish to crown a true number one. In order to do so, the division’s top two, Jai Opetaia and Gilberto Ramirez, will be encouraged to share a ring and put their titles on the line and you know what that means: an all-southpaw battle. 

In the case of these two, and without wanting to curse it, there is no need to worry about them partnering up. Opetaia, after all, is one of the most aggressive and all-action fighters in the world currently, while Ramirez, just as busy, is now using all the attributes that made him a success at both super middleweight and light heavyweight against bigger men at cruiserweight. He is, like Opetaia, a man happy to test an opponent’s resolve before breaking their heart and outlasting them. He goes and goes until he is told to stop. 

Put two fighters with this sort of mindset in the ring together and there is a good chance of ignition. Neither Opetaia nor Ramirez will want to concede ground or relinquish the upper hand and neither will want to be seen as the one who has changed what they do naturally. Both men can box, of course, yet they are typically at their best when moving forward, biting down, and throwing punches in moments when their opponent would rather rest. 

In fact, given all this, it was a surprise that this fight, Opetaia vs. Ramirez, didn’t feature on more of those “Fights for 2025” shopping lists that were all the rage at the end of December. As well as crowning a division number one, a potential fight between Opetaia and Ramirez would seem a solid bet as far as action goes and will no doubt tell us a great deal about both. Best of all, should it happen, Opetaia vs. Ramirez would go some way to helping all those afflicted with PTSD as a result of Shakur Stevenson’s all-southpaw stinker against Edwin De Los Santos a little over a year ago.